Madigan: Craigslist to Drop 'Erotic Services'

By Kate Gardiner in News on May 13, 2009 8:20PM

Craigslist will drop its 'erotic services' classified ads section in favor of another, more heavily-moderated adult category, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Wednesday. At a morning press conference, Madigan said, "I think this is a fundamental change, a recognition by Craigslist that the erotic services section truly had become an Internet brothel, truly had become an illegal and dangerous place." The decision followed several months of negotiation with the attorney generals of three states, including Illinois, and a federal lawsuit filed March 5 by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Dart, holding his own presser, said, "Under a fair and objective analysis, it's clear that but for our lawsuit, and the pressure we brought as a result of that and the exposure that came as well, that that is what brought this to conclusion."

Dart's federal suit called the erotic section [SFW] of the services category on the popular online classified site a "public nuisance" and asked for a judgment in excess of $105,000, including the time of police officers charged with policing the website for prostitutes seeking clients and the aftermath of making at least 156 arrests. He also asked the court to prohibit the site from restarting the section by asking for an injunction.

But sex workers in Chicago, and their attorneys, had another opinion. They derided the law suit as ridiculous, and adult entertainment attorney JD Obenberger said he'd represent the website for free, if given the chance. "Dart's picking on prostitutes," said Obenberger at Chicago's Sexpo earlier this month. "He's using prostitution to advance his career." But Obenberger's complaint was based in a sounder legal theory: the first amendment.

He, with partner Reed Lee, said the case was a simple matter, resolved by one of journalism's landmark cases: Near v. Minnesota, which said publications cannot be censored, no matter how inflammatory. The disposition of the case remains in limbo, as Madigan's announcement mitigates Dart's argument.

Still, sex workers in Chicago said that closing the erotic services site would simply shift business somewhere else. One woman, “Sharon,” who started work as a prostitute on the popular web site, said that she’s already shifted elsewhere. “If you’re going to have to pay,” she said. “Why not go all the way and pay for the bigger sites.” Sharon, and other Chicago prostitutes, said that though the site might temporarily inconvenience their clients, the advertisements would move off-site, to other adult-oriented classified advertisement services. “Most of us have regulars,” she added. “The longer you’ve been working, the more likely it is that you don’t really need to advertise that much.”

Craigslist implemented a requirement in Nov. 2008, at the behest of more than 40 attorney generals, asking for credit card numbers and identification information to post in the erotic section; the $5 service fees were donated to charity. The site also agreed to better police itself: Dart argues that the site has not done so, despite the agreement. The erotic services section, his attorneys argued, draws more than 300 posts per day. In the complaint, Dart also said his department conducts stings through the website regularly, netting more than 200 people since 2007, charged with a variety of crimes, including: prostitution; juvenile pimping; and human trafficking.

In a March press release, Dart said vice control officers made postings on the site "pretending to be a 15-year-old girl. Those posting drew several responses, including one from a convicted sex offender. Despite promises from craigslist to better monitor its own website, the ads were not removed."

Craigslist could not immediately be reached for comment.