Conference call tomorrow (9/8) at 11 AM EST on Craigslist and Adult Services Section

UPDATE

MORE: sorry I couldn't make it! (turned out to be one crazy day); will try to post this weekend about the international issue

Delia

P.S. pleased to see the group is giving craigslist the chance to join the good fight (whatever the history, it is most important that things go as well as possible from now on) D.

Delia,
That sounds great. If you would like to listen into the call or ask any questions, I can send you the call in. Otherwise, we would appreciate, very much, the posting.

K

Katherine Miller
Managing Director
Hattaway Communications
m: +1 202 489 2205
s: kmillerdc
e: katherine@hattawaycommunications.com
www.hattawaycommunications.com



Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 7, 2010, at 7:53 PM, dperiod wrote:

> Hi Brad and Katherine! Thanks for letting me know... It's just that I'm not quite sure what this is asking from me, if anything. Although I've been blogging about craigslist for quite a while, I am not at all "credentialed press" and do not travel in order to get info about craigslist. Part of it is the fact that I need to preserve my privacy (my blogs would look very different if I thought I'd give up my privacy at some point). I do wish you success and would be glad to post the press release on my blog if you'd like that! Let me know if I can help with anything else... thanks! ~Delia
>
> ----- Original message -----
> Sent: 2010/09/07 17:59:51
> Subject: Re: Conference call tomorrow (9/8) at 11 AM EST on Craigslist and Adult Services Section
>
> I hope that you will be able to join Malika Saada Saar, from the Rebecca Project, and Bradley Myles, from Polaris Project, for a call focused on Craigslist's recent decision to close down the US-based Adult Services section and continuing efforts to encourage Craigslist to take additional steps to address global sex trafficking. Details are below. The statement they released today is also pasted below, for your information.
>
> If you have any questions, please let me know.
>
> Katherine Miller
> Managing Director
> Hattaway Communications
> e: kmiller@hattaway.com
> m: +1 202 489 2205
> s: kmillerdc
> www.hattaway.com
>
>
>
> MEDIA ADVISORY
>
>
>
>
>
> What: Press conference call with:
>
> Bradley Myles, Executive Director, Polaris Project
>
> Malika Saada Saar, Executive Director, Rebecca Project for Human Rights
>
>
>
> About: Sex trafficking on Craigslist
>
> When: Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010 11:00 AM EST
>
> Dial-in: Credentialed press only. RSVP to acole@hattaway.com for dial-in code.
>
>
> Statement on Craigslist
>
>
>
>
>
>
> For Immediate Release: Contact: Bradley Myles
>
> September 7, 2010 Polaris Project
>
> 202-507-7956
>
>
>
> Anti-Trafficking Experts Call for Craigslist to Close Adult Services Outside the U.S.
>
>
>
>
>
> WASHINGTON — Four leading organizations that work on ending the sex trafficking of children and young women issued the following statement in response to Craigslist’s decision to close its adult service section in the United States:
>
>
>
> “We thank Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster for voluntarily closing the adult services section of Craigslist in the United States. As the largest classified ads site to have an adult services section, Craigslist has become a major marketplace for buying and selling sex with children and young women. An FBI investigation found 2,800 ads selling sex with children in the adult services section in 2008 alone. Closing this section of Craigslist sends a clear signal to sexual predators that it will not stand for them using the site to sexually enslave children and young women.”
>
>
>
> “While this is a good first step in the U.S., there are still more than 250 other Craigslist ‘erotic’ pages around the world where children and young women are still being sold for sex through Craigslist. Craigslist is a global company, and it has a global responsibility. It should immediately shut down the ‘erotic’ services sections across the globe.” [In many areas, “adult services” is called “erotic services.”]
>
>
>
> “We hope that closing this section only in the U.S. was not simply a PR move in advance of a Congressional hearing on September 15th on sex trafficking where Craigslist has been called to testify. If Craigslist is seriously committed to ending the site’s use as a platform for sex trafficking and the sexual enslavement of children and young women, it will immediately close the remaining sections around the world.”
>
>
>
> Signed,
>
> Polaris Project, Rebecca Project for Human Rights, FAIR Fund, Courtney’s House

craigslist sycophants are speeding up the changing of the law believed to allow craigslist to worsen all sort of ills

...and no major overhaul would be needed, just to specify what to me appears to be obvious: that if you *know* (or should reasonably know) that things like child trafficking are rampant on your site, you HAVE TO adequately screen in order to get rid of those ads! and that goes for *all* your site... D.

(craigslist's role in increased prostitution/child trafficking) I just don't get Jeff Jarvis...

MORE: I don't know if I should be surprised... Jeff Jarvis didn't post my comment (comment number 423908): on the one hand, he's never acted coardish towards me in the past (maybe I didn't give him much of a chance, I don't know, just posted lightly on his blog few years back), on the other hand Craig probably leaned on him as usual... D.

http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/09/05/regulating-sex-and-speech/#comment-423908

re: "The argument has been that craigslist ads are used to serve human sex trafficking. Except craigslist has been openly and consistently helping police in their efforts to arrest traffickers"

Jeff, I'm trying to understand you but I'm having a really hard time...

Just what do you think is the percentage of traffickers that *can* be apprehended? The police has very limited resources...I somehow doubt you don't know that.

How does the minute percentage of those apprehended compare with the increase in such crimes due to the ease of accomplishing the crime with craigslist's help (the most efficient known way to advertise -- 3 times more efficient than places like backpage)?

Providing a very efficient place for initiating prostitution (including trafficking of children) is almost surely dramatically increasing the amount of overall harm. Generally, the harder it is to commit the crime, the less of it actually happens... none of this is rocket science.

Delia

P.S. are the other places just as responsible? absolutely... just for significantly less added harm (perhaps not for lack of trying, they are just nowhere as efficient); as with most harms, the police/government just can't uniformly go after all of them, so the bigger fish are rightly getting the most attention (craigslist's feedback forum used to tell craigslisters who were complaining that their ad got removed while others also in violation remained on the site that if you are speeding you should expect a ticket even if not everybody gets a ticket -- it's funny how they forget when they are the ones speeding three times faster than anybody else around). D.

unlisted craigslist erotic/adult services review forum???

MORE: Anderson Cooper didn't care to "sit down with Craig/Jim" (left Amber Lyons finish the reporting on the evening of September 6th); did they think he was going to jump to "the honor" or... something else?; there were some articles suggesting Craig/Jim were looking for a way to meet Anderson *socially*... ("for coffee")... Anderson is believed to be gay but, unlike Craig, he gives no reason for making his sexuality known (no publicly known girlfriend or the like); on the other hand, posts claiming Craig is gay still frequently appear on craigslist...

the latest: http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/rnr/1881490918.html
...
didn't know it existed! (link of http://www.forumslister.com/)

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=6996

I guess nothing should surprise...(certainly looks like good evidence for aiding & abetting -- let me know what you think! it is moderated, certain posts have been deleted by staff showing they KNOW what's going on in there; you can find explicit discussions and suggestions of particular "providers" and there is enough detail to see what the "services" are (e.g.); there used to be posted pictures, one poster says...)

thanks to slinkybender!: "They have, in fact, explicitly created "secret" discussion forums for johns on their website -- unadvertised locations set aside from among the 10,000 possible forums available on their servers -- and those forums have been highly active for years."

Delia

P.S. if you have time, listen to the short Jim Buckmaster video (just to see how much wholesomeness he is trying to project) and read the Guardian article where he says they make sure all ads are ok and the comments (two from craigslist users are excellent):

"You've agreed to do more screening of ads. Is that going to change the way you run?

JB: In this one category, we are manually screening each ad to ensure that it's fully compliant before it reaches the site. We're not counting the cost there and we're staffing that function as appropriate and as needed to ensure that every ad is fully screened."

No wonder they are pissed with Amber Lyons...and are trying to get someoneELSE to talk to...

craigslist's role in child trafficking

MORE: best (easiest) legal challenge I see at the moment: by claiming to manually screen all ads, craigslist has become "co-author" of these ads and should be held legally responsible for all problem-ads that appear on the site (since it ok-es them before publication) D.

sorry, got delayed...

Much better media coverage than I've ever seen on this topic! and a lot more people with the ability to really do something (e.g. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley) finally speaking up...

Unfortunately, some people continue to be blinded by craigslist's arguments that they are not ultimately causing the crime so they are thus not responsible.

As with all crimes, willingness to commit the crime is not enough for the crime to actually happen -- the opportunity must also be there. And the greater the opportunity, the more potential crime becomes actual crime. While craigslist is not causing the willingness to exploit children, the existence of it's "adult services" does appear to dramatically increase the opportunity of committing the crime by providing a very effective advertising platform (much more effective than any other known alternative). Getting rid of the "adult section" would not mean there would be no more child trafficking but it may well mean that there would be a whole lot less of it...

If "adult services" MUST exist (and it is a very difficult argument to make that providing an advertising section for the extremely limited situation when "adult ads" may truly be harmless and legal should win out given the reality of increased child trafficking), it could only be justified if screening would be without reproach. This appears to be hardly the case... It's hard to see how lawyers trained to manually screen each ad (3rd paragraph) could accept as many blatant ads observers have found on the site every time they looked... Just how many lawyers were employed? Hardly enough given the job at hand, it appears... Just how much has craigslist spent from the tens of millions it's been collecting in fees from "adult services" ads on combating the problem? an insignificant amount, it appears...

Delia

P.S. worst problem I see at the moment: some well meaning people with the ability to effect change are not keeping child trafficking separate from prostitution in general (I do believe both are a real problem but child trafficking is by far the worst of the two and should be given priority)D.

(child sex trafficking) will be posting a critique of Jim Buckmaster's response, shortly...

UPDATE

... might take a week or so... Delia

P.S. key issue: they just don't seem to be monitoring! (which they claim they do...so Amber Lyon was right on the money!) D.

child trafficking: I'm happy to see main stream outfits like CNN are finally doing a good job covering this!

MORE

Sold on Craigslist: Critics say sex ad crackdown inadequate -- links within this article (to Malika Saada Saar's article and Jim Buckmaster's article) give a balanced view

Delia

P.S. glad to see there seems to be less and less need for this blog (the questions are being asked, the issues are being raised by others...) D.