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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / In defense of Craigslist

In defense of Craigslist

by E.D. Kain|  September 10, 201012:30 am| 17 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics

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Reihan Salam has a very good post up defending Craigslist which he notes is, “a quality-of-life boon for cities across the country.” He links to this piece by danah boyd, explaining how censoring Craigslist’s adult service section may in fact make it harder for law enforcement to track down sex traffickers and other criminals. I think it’s a strong argument, and it’s a shame Craigslist caved, though not surprising. As Reihan points out:

Keep in mind that Craigslist, as McCullagh explains, is a company that employs 30 people and that has scrupulously avoided attempts to scale up dramatically in size. Though not quite a mom-and-pop, Craigslist is a business that has created far more consumer surplus than media organizations many times its size. Simply put, Craigslist doesn’t have the resources to defend itself against baseless attacks. It needs all of us who’ve benefited from its apartment listings, like yours truly, to stick up for it against political bullying.

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Reader Interactions

17Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    September 10, 2010 at 12:39 am

    I’m sorry but I don’t remember Terry Jones telling Craigslist they couldn’t advertise sex.

    Let’s be prudent and wait for our lord and master to come to a decision.

  2. 2.

    Violet

    September 10, 2010 at 12:49 am

    I know nothing about Reihan Salam, but the photos I’ve seen of him make him look like a movie bad guy right out of central casting. Not much of one for smiling is he?

    The internet isn’t going away. Since Craigslist has stopped taking ads of that nature, something else will step in and fill its place. The police will have to adapt, but the new formats will likely also be internet-based. I don’t think we’re going back to the days of ads in the back of the alternative weekly newspaper.

  3. 3.

    EJ

    September 10, 2010 at 1:21 am

    @Violet: The problem here is unlike a number of vastly better-funded online classified networks, Craigslist had made considerable good-faith efforts (in many cases successful) to work with law enforcement to track down human traffickers and other serious criminals who were advertising in its adult services section.

    But because it lacks the resources to defend itself, it became a target for publicity-seeking AGs. The next company to take up the mantle will likely be able to afford better lawyers and won’t be so cooperative.

  4. 4.

    wengler

    September 10, 2010 at 1:32 am

    The rational response would be to make acts between consenting adults legal, but either way this is an Internet FIAL for all those AGs and big city sheriffs. The old media has also fanned the flames against Craigslist probably due to its destruction of the classifieds business.

    Adult ads will now go to about 10 more sites, and after some of those are pestered to death, another 40. Welcome to the new world. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

  5. 5.

    Nemo_N

    September 10, 2010 at 1:36 am

    Like babies, who think that if something is no longer in front of their eyes it means it no longer exists.

  6. 6.

    wengler

    September 10, 2010 at 1:39 am

    @EJ

    Exactly. The founder and operators of Craigslist see it more as a community service and have resisted commercially benefiting off of the massive amount of traffic they get. I believe their only revenue is off of job ads in select cities.

    And now by shooting the messenger, these states lost a valuable ally against human trafficking. Nice job morons!

  7. 7.

    Ailuridae

    September 10, 2010 at 3:35 am

    The “can’t afford legal defense” argument is pretty silly though, right? How long would it take craigslist to raise a nearly unlimited defense fund?

  8. 8.

    b-psycho

    September 10, 2010 at 3:56 am

    Reihan’s cred with that crowd gets yanked in 3…2…1…

  9. 9.

    maus

    September 10, 2010 at 4:40 am

    @Ailuridae: What are they supposed to do while they’re shut down?

  10. 10.

    Ailuridae

    September 10, 2010 at 5:17 am

    @maus:

    They can raise 5 M tomorrow right?

  11. 11.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 10, 2010 at 5:25 am

    @Ailuridae: @wengler:
    Craigslist also makes money off of real estate ads as well. And the EFF would be their pro bono counsel in a heartbeat.

    The reason they took on cl was because it was the biggest and it was located in the u.s.

  12. 12.

    sneezy

    September 10, 2010 at 6:44 am

    @EJ:

    What is this “lack of resources” stuff? My understanding is that the best estimates are that craigslist hauls in upwards of $100 million a year.

  13. 13.

    patrick

    September 10, 2010 at 8:17 am

    What the heck happened to the post “The Elephant in the Room” ?

    What’s going on?

  14. 14.

    TooManyJens

    September 10, 2010 at 9:51 am

    @patrick: It’s right here. Works OK for me.

  15. 15.

    Tim in SF

    September 10, 2010 at 10:37 am

    Kaine, you really should read this analysis by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Zimmerman knows Newmark and Buckmaster and has been writing about this for over a year.

  16. 16.

    california asset protection

    September 10, 2010 at 4:13 pm

    craigslist did a good thing by banning adult services.

  17. 17.

    maus

    September 10, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    @california asset protection:

    craigslist did a good thing by banning adult services.

    obvious troll is way too obvious.

    can’t we ip-ban these dullards?

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