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Thursday, September 16, 2010

'Adult services' closed, Craigslist says

hearing on sex trafficking of minors

Craigslist said on Wednesday that it had permanently closed the section of its sites in the United States that carried sex-related advertising, but it defended its right to carry such advertisements as well as its efforts to fight sex trafficking. The company abruptly removed links to the ads for sexual services earlier this month and replaced them with a black label bearing the word "censored." Until Wednesday it had not explained its move. William Clinton Powell, director of customer and law enforcement relations at Craigslist, and Elizabeth L. McDougall, a partner at Perkins Coie, Craigslist's law firm, discussed the change in testimony at a hearing on sex trafficking of minors before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington.

"Craigslist discontinued its adult services section on Sept. 3, 2010, and there are no plans to reinstate the category," Mr. Powell said. "Those who formerly posted ads in the adult services category will now have to advertise elsewhere, and in fact there is evidence that this process began immediately." The hearing, held by the House subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security, came after days of speculation about the motives of Craigslist. Though federal law protects Craigslist against liability for what its users post, it has been criticized by state attorneys general and advocacy groups who say the site has the responsibility to fight sex trafficking and other sex crimes. On Aug. 24, 17 attorneys general sent Craigslist a letter demanding that it close the sex-related section.

The sex ads cost $10 and were on track to bring in $44 million in revenue this year, according to the AIM Group, a consulting firm that closely monitors the company. Craigslist also charges for some real estate and job ads, but most listings are free.

Free speech advocates and some people who work to help victims of sex crimes have questioned the removal of the sex-ad section. They said that blocking the ads threatened free speech and that the site helped law enforcement track criminals.

But state attorneys general and other groups fighting sex crimes applauded Craigslist's decision to remove the section and demanded that it also block the ads from other areas of the site where they have been popping up, like casual encounters and therapeutic services, and from international Craigslist sites.

Ms. McDougall said Wednesday that it was overly idealistic to believe that sex crimes would end if the sex-oriented advertising were shut down.

Craigslist had adopted a more practical approach, she said, by containing the ads in one place on the site and assisting law enforcement in investigating crimes.

Mr. Powell outlined the many steps he said Craigslist had taken to fight sex trafficking and work with law enforcement and advocacy groups, including manually reviewing all ads before posting, requiring credit card and phone numbers, reporting suspicious ads to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and responding to law enforcement requests within a day.

Now that Craigslist has ended the adult ads, it will be harder for the site to assist law enforcement because the ads have migrated to other sites, Ms. McDougall said.

Traffic to Backpage.com, a classifieds site run by Village Voice Media, has sharply spiked this month, according to reports from two firms that measure Web traffic, Alexa and Compete, that Ms. McDougall provided to the committee.

"Consequently, Craigslist fears that its utility to help combat child exploitation has been grossly diminished," she said.

Ernie Allen, chief executive of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, dismissed that notion in his testimony. "We recognize that if we crack down in one area, some of this problem will migrate to other areas, but frankly that's progress," he said. "We follow the money. The goal is to destroy the business model of those who sell children for sex on the Internet."

Carl Ferrer, vice president of sales and marketing at Backpage, did not respond to a request for comment but has previously said that the site uses moderation, automated filters and user reports to remove inappropriate posts.

Backpage and the many other sites that post prostitution ads, often disguised as body rubs or escort services, are maneuvering to get a bigger share of the business now that Craigslist is out of the game, said Peter M. Zollman, founding principal of the AIM Group.

Advocacy groups and attorneys general have said they focused on Craigslist because it is widely known and has a big business in sex ads, but will now go after other sites as well. "We must broaden the focus beyond Craigslist and urge every online classified site to take action," Mr. Allen said.