Craigslist sued over erotic-services ads

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announces at a news conference that he has filed suit in U.S. District Court against the owner of the website, Craigslist, accusing them of knowingly promoting and facilitating prostitution. Thursday, March 5, 2009, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) less Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announces at a news conference that he has filed suit in U.S. District Court against the owner of the website, Craigslist, accusing them of knowingly promoting and facilitating ... more Photo: M. Spencer Green, AP Photo: M. Spencer Green, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Craigslist sued over erotic-services ads 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The online forum and classified site Craigslist is once again under fire from law enforcement for running advertisements for erotic services.

This time, the Cook County Sheriff's Department is going after the site. On Thursday, Sheriff Thomas Dart filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois accusing Craigslist of "knowingly promoting and facilitating prostitution."

"Craigslist is the single largest source of prostitution in the nation," Dart said Thursday. "Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they're being pimped on Craigslist."

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster did not return calls for comment. Instead, the San Francisco company issued a statement.

"Misuse of Craigslist to facilitate criminal activity is unacceptable, and we continue to work diligently to prevent it," the statement said. "Misuse of the site is exceptionally rare compared to how much the site is used for legal purposes. Regardless, any misuse of the site is not tolerated on Craigslist."

This was not the first time the company has been accused of allowing its Web site to be misused.

In November, the attorney general of Connecticut threatened legal action after receiving complaints about photographs depicting nudity. Eventually, Craigslist came to an agreement with 40 attorneys general around the United States. The company instituted policies aimed at reducing the amount of prostitution, including requiring advertisers for erotic massage, strippers, escort services and the like to pay a fee with a credit card - fees the famously profit-averse company promised to donate to charity.

Dart said the agreement between Craigslist and the attorneys general has resulted in no appreciable reduction of ads for prostitution on the site. Furthermore, he said, Craigslist does not monitor the "erotic services" section of the site, and when his officers have attempted to contactCraigslist they have been ignored or not gotten the kind of help they need.

Dart is asking a federal judge to order Craigslist to eliminate its "Erotic Services" section, where most prostitution ads are posted. He also is seeking reimbursement for tax dollars spent paying the salaries of officers who investigate and arrest those responsible for trafficking women on the Web site.

Craigslist's Buckmaster said previously that the company is trying to strike a balance, keeping the erotic services section - in part to keep such ads from appearing elsewhere on Craigslist - while also protecting free speech and preventing exploitation. He hopes Craigslist can be a pioneer in this kind of cooperation as it has been on the Internet.

In its statement Thursday, the company warned that "Craigslist is an extremely unwise choice for those intent on committing crimes, since criminals inevitably leave an electronic trail to themselves that law enforcement officers will follow. On a daily basis, we are being of direct assistance to police departments and federal authorities nationwide."

Matt Zimmerman, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it is unlikely that the sheriff will win the suit because the Communications Decency Act of 1996 explicitly protects Web site owners from culpability for criminal activity perpetrated by third parties.