Criticism of, changes at Craigslist

Apparently responding to criticism that it was facilitating prostitution, online classified ads giant Craigslist is making some changes. It "will replace its 'erotic services' section with a new adult category that will be more closely monitored, the Washington Post reports. Craigslist, which gets "an estimated 20 billion page views worldwide a month" for a huge variety of ads, says every ad in the new category will be reviewed by a person, and there will be no sex-for-money ads or pornographic images. On the one hand, that doesn't stop people from placing inappropriate ads in other categories; on the other hand that would make such ads harder to find in a medium where there are many sites dedicated to adult content and services. Police cited in a separate article in the Post caution against (anyone) using the Web to arrange in-person meetings and going alone without notifying anyone. Later this week Craigslist sued South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, "asking a judge to stop him from threatening to prosecute [the company's] executives ... on prostitution or obscenity charges," the Boston Herald reports. CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote in the Craigslist blog that "many prominent companies, including AT&T, Microsoft, and Village Voice Media, not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses feature more 'adult services' ads than does Craigslist, some of a very graphic nature," according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News.