In seven days, the erotic services section as you know it on Craigslist will end. No more listings are being accepted and all current listings will expire at or before that time. This is due to pressure from state and local law enforcement over the legalities of the services often listed there.
The cost for posting to the “adult services” section will double. While initially this money will be donated to charity, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has said that this is temporary. The money will likely go to fund new human oversight of the adult services section to weed out and delist illegal services.
Buckmaster was not specific about how this would work, but I’m envisioning it being something like eBay’s “PI” system. Legal adult services like massage and escorts will still be allowed on the site, but solicitations for more intimately illegal services will be rejected, says spokeswoman Susan Best according to an LA Times report this morning.
The full statement from Craigslist is available on CNET at this link. It’s title “Striking a Balance” shows the attempt by the site to maintain an open marketplace while keeping within the law. The statement also lightly attacks some of the sensationalistic media attention Craigslist has received thanks to this issue.
It’s my hope that Craigslist will remain an open and relatively free marketplace and won’t become bogged down by activists directing policy as other sites like eBay have. Craigslist remains one of the few free and open marketplaces online and it would be a shame to see it go away from that. You can always try one of my other sites www.jicka.com (shameless plug) in the mean time!
