What Little I Know…

A caution to those who make money off of their risque personals ads, as we see Craigslist come under fire for what is being called “sex for money” classifieds.

Yesterday,  Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, issued a subpoena to Craigslist regarding their ‘prostitution ads’.  To put it simply the AG wants to review Craigslists processes, to see if they are in fact policing their site content to be rid of prostitution and other questionable classifieds.  Blumenthal is leading the charge against Craigslist, along with 39 other states.  What Blumenthal and others are strongly concerned about are reports that Craigslist is profiting from the ads in question.  The subpoena makes reference to Craigslist’s potential profiteering, off of the said prostitution ads, to the tune of $36 million.

In a Craigslist blog post by Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist CEO, on Monday, he said this in response to the subpeana, “As AG Blumenthal knows full well, Craigslist has gone beyond fulfilling its legal obligations, far beyond classifieds industry norms, has more than lived up to any promises it made, and working together with its partners is in fact a leader in the fight against human trafficking and exploitation.”

If Craigslist is in violation, I can name another 100 classified sites, some belonging to newspapers, who too would need to be questioned.  Has anyone stopped to think that perhaps the spotlight is glitzed on Craigslist because of volume?  These ads are not foreign to classifieds and I would argue that if it seems odd to filter the personals category for the at least 380 US classifieds sites, then it should also be a non-starter for Craigslist.

P.S. When you take a look at the earlier Criagslist blog post, discussing the Connecticut AG’s argument, scroll down to review the reader comments.  Summed up, the comments form an interesting conversation, some against and some for the classified site.  In addition, the commenter’s add arguments, not yet covered by either Buckmaster or Blumenthal.