Craigslist "Erotic Services" Lawsuit Unfair
Classifieds Site Sued Despite Full Cooperation With U.S. Authorities
Mar 9, 2009
Failing to stop ads promoting the exchange of sexual deeds for money, despite fervent efforts to do so, is the same as openly promoting those ads. At least, that is the logic behind a lawsuit filed last week by the second largest sheriff's department in the United States, encompassing Chicago and greater Cook County, that is demanding the popular classified listing website Craigslist remove the "Erotic Services" section from its features.
The sheriff's office is claiming that by simply allowing such a section to exist, craigslist is facilitating prostitution.
Very Dangerous Precedent
"To say Craigslist's 'erotic services' forum makes prostitution accessible is an understatement," reads the text of the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the northern district of Illinois.
But to say that this lawsuit is frivolous would be the real understatement.
Not only is the Cook County Sheriff's Department suing for Craigslist to close its "Erotic Services" section, it is also claiming over $100 000 USD in damages to make up for the time Cook County police officers spent on the site tracking suspected pimps, hookers and their clientele.
Should the court agree that the police are entitled to damages, that would set a very dangerous precedent. After all, if police can sue craigslist for the time they spend tracking criminals that use its services in order to break the law, what is to stop them from forcing phone companies to pay for the time police spend tapping criminal's phone lines?
The Case Against Craigslist
Justification for the lawsuit stems from the fact that preventative measures recently put in place by the site's owner, Craig Newmark (It's his list!), in the hopes of deterring misuse of the "Erotic Services" forum have so far proven ineffective.
At the joint request of Attorneys General from 40 U.S. states, Newmark instituted tighter security controls over his site's "Erotic Services" forum in late 2008. In addition to continuing the site's longstanding policy of automatically flagging and removing any posts that advertise the performance of sexual acts in exchange for money, people posting "Erotic Services" ads now have to provide valid identification and pay a small fee, which craigslist then donates to charity.
Though as is almost always the case with website security protocols, truly committed criminals and plan-ahead pimps have found a number of ways to circumvent the roadblocks. Chief among the loopholes is creating an ordinary personals ad that claims to be seeking individuals who are "generous$" (clever right?).
On top of that, "Erotic Services" remains the most commonly visited section of the site to this day by a huge margin of visits.
“Failure to Prevent” = “Facilitation”? Not According to “English”
Sex is popular on the Internet you say? Good thing obliviousness isn’t a crime.
So apparently because Craigslist is guilty of failing to keep criminals from using its services to advertise prostitution, despite an honest and concerted effort to do so, it is therefore also guilty of "facilitating prostitution."
That is a funny kind of logic isn't it? If a high school fails to prevent one of its students from bringing a gun to class and shooting a bunch of kids, despite having installed metal detectors and hiring extra security, does that mean the school is guilty of "facilitating" murder?
The answer there is a clear and curt "No," but is the Craigslist situation really that different?
Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds
This case may not look quite so ridiculous if it weren't for the fact that police have been using Craigslist’s "Erotic Services" section for years as a means of catching those in the business of buying and selling sex.
Police across the United States have managed to arrest hundreds of suspected prostitutes, pimps and purchasers by luring them in with strategically placed advertisements on the very website they are now seeking to shut down.
American law enforcement is blaming craigslist’s “Erotic Services” for “facilitating prostitution.” Though they seem happy enough to use that same feature as an undercover pimp when it suits their needs.
There is a word for the sort of person who thinks that way: hypocrite.
