{"id":28470,"date":"2010-09-05T11:18:16","date_gmt":"2010-09-05T16:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=28470"},"modified":"2010-09-05T11:55:13","modified_gmt":"2010-09-05T16:55:13","slug":"behind-the-curtain-politico-on-craigslist-adult-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/behind-the-curtain-politico-on-craigslist-adult-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Curtain: Politico on Craigslist Adult Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Politico Playbook<\/a> by Mike Allen<\/strong>. Note to readers, I haven’t investigated this story myself; this is from a source I’ve found to be reliable and is intended as a conversation starter. Clearly, these listings — originally intended for ‘solo practitioner’ sexworkers — were being used by larger, more organized operations. But it would seem that CL did little to help mitigate problems. The issue takes us to the slippery razor’s edge of how to balance the Constitutional guarantee that the government will not interfere with the media, and the social responsibility connected with free speech. One problem is that various bans on prostitution have never worked, and never will; nor will banning the listings. Somebody else will take the business. But then, in the most elemental terms, sex trafficking is always matter of supply and demand. –ef<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Craigslist as of Sunday morning, Sept. 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why Craigslist is suddenly abandoning its lucrative \u201cadult services\u201d ads, which created a market for exploitation of young girls – And the coming role for Congress: On Friday night, the online classified behemoth dropped a black \u201ccensored\u201d bar over its adult services listings, and a top legal source tells Playbook that indications are that Craigslist plans to discontinue that part of the site permanently.<\/p>\n

The N.Y. Times reported in April: \u201cThe ads, many of which blatantly advertise prostitution, are expected to bring $36 million this year.\u201d The raunchy ads empowered pimps, who could post the location of a hotel room on Craigslist, then wait for a string of customers to come have inexpensive sex with underage girls who were working against their will. <\/p>\n

Despite repeated complaints from law enforcement and state authorities, Craigslist officials had been recalcitrant about making changes, for both financial and philosophical reasons. This weekend’s turnaround resulted from a quiet, low-budget synthesis of GOVERNMENT, MEDIA, CELEBRITIES and ADVOCACY GROUPS – a textbook pressure campaign that defeated an Internet powerhouse. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In May, The Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the Demi Ashton Foundation held a briefing on Capitol Hill – \u201cDomestic Sex Trafficking of Children,\u201d moderated by CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux – with girls who had been Craigslist victims telling their stories in public. Demi Moore talked with the girls, met with House and Senate members, then went to the White House to make her case to senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. (David Axelrod dropped in.) Attorney General Eric Holder also was briefed on the issue<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In August, CNN’s Anderson Cooper put Craigslist on the spot with an \u201cAC360\u00b0 investigation,\u201d with the ambush video getting repeated airings on air and online. On Aug. 24, 17 state attorneys general wrote to Craigslist, calling for the adult section to be shut down: \u201cThe increasingly sharp public criticism of Craigslist’s Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution – including ads trafficking children – are rampant on it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), who has been pursuing Craigslist for years, told us in a telephone interview as he shuttled between fairs in the Nutmeg State: \u201cThis action almost certainly resulted from a combination of [human trafficking] groups [and] recent tragic criminal actions. Craigslist has been enabling criminal activity The sense of growing public outrage has been a building force. At the outset, [Craigslist was] much more responsive than they have been more recently. I think they’ve been resistant, first, because of the culture; perhaps because of the financial stakes; and maybe there’s something personal about it. Maybe they feel that they should have complete freedom to do whatever they like with the site. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the key issues here is how much accountability they really have, in legal terms. They maintain that the [federal Communications] Decency Act [of 1996] gives them virtually complete immunity from any kind of accountability, legally. And one of the key points that I’ve argued is: We need to change that federal law, to hold these sites accountable This law that dates from the earliest period of the Internet is out of date.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Politico Playbook by Mike Allen. Note to readers, I haven’t investigated this story myself; this is from a source I’ve found to be reliable and is intended as a conversation starter. Clearly, these listings — originally intended for ‘solo practitioner’ sexworkers — were being used by larger, more organized operations. But it would seem … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}