Last week, after Illinois Times went to press, Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that her May 5 meeting with craigslist officials was a success [see “Attorney General gets tough with craigslist,” May 14].
Craigslist, an online classifieds community, agreed to shut down its erotic
services section after failing to comply with a November arrangement made with
43 attorneys general to crack down on illegal prostitution advertisements. The
company will no longer accept erotic services postings and will instead
implement an adult services section. Every ad will be manually reviewed; nude
or graphic photos will be prohibited.
Cara Smith, Madigan’s deputy chief of staff, says craigslist has taken encouraging steps, but “it’s by no means a silver bullet.”
“Prior to these changes, the ads were extraordinarily graphic, both in image and
content,” she says. “It was cut and dry. There’s no question what the offer was. Now it’s gray.”
The attorney general’s office is working to sort out the difference between an erotic services
section and an adult services section, Smith says. Investigations into the Web
site remain ongoing.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2009.
