Craigslist to dump 'erotic services' ads

SAN FRANCISCO -- Online classified ads service Craigslist says it will dump the "erotic services" category that law enforcement officials have called a front for prostitution and replace it with a fee-based adult category that will be reviewed by site employees.

As of Wednesday, postings to the erotic category were no longer being accepted. In seven days, the category will be removed, Craigslist said. Postings on the adult category — which would seek to bar blatant ads for prostitution and pornography — will cost $10; once approved, they can be reposted for $5.

The sex-service listings have faced intense scrutiny following the death last month of a masseuse who advertised on Craigslist in Boston. Boston University student Philip Markoff, 23, was charged with the killing and with attacks on two other women he met through Craigslist. Tabloids called Markoff "the Craigslist killer."

That followed the sentencing last month of a Minnesota man convicted of killing a woman who replied to a babysitting ad on Craigslist.

"We're trying to strike a new balance for state attorneys general, legal businesses that advertise, advocates for free speech, and Internet law experts," Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said in an interview.

The 14-year-old site generates more than 20 billion page views per month in 50 countries. Its listings cover everything from apartments to jobs.

The controversial erotic services category is one of 100 categories on Craigslist, and accounts for 1% of ads, Buckmaster says. The private San Francisco-based company does not comment on its revenue. Most ads on the site are posted without review.

In a lawsuit filed in March, Cook County (Ill.) Sheriff Tom Dart called the erotic category the "largest source of prostitution in America." Buckmaster called the lawsuit "baseless."

Last week, the attorneys general of Illinois, Connecticut and Missouri met with Craigslist officials to put an end to what they claim were ads for illegal sexual activities. "Craigslist is doing the right thing in eliminating its online red light, but it hardly ends our concerns," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in an interview. California AG Jerry Brown lauded the actions, but New York AG Andrew Cuomo called them "half-baked."

Craigslist made the move more as a public relations gesture than a legal one, free-speech advocates say. Under federal law, websites that host third-party material are "absolutely immune" from state criminal law liability, says Matt Zimmerman, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit that advocates free speech online.

But in its terms of service agreement, Craigslist has a "moral and legal responsibility" in its commitments to the public's safety, Blumenthal says.