Craigslist last week dropped its “erotic services” ads following a campaign by law enforcement authorities and a high-profile murder in which police say the killer used the website to find his victim.<\/p>\n
Chief executive Jim Buckmaster said in a blog post Wednesday that although Craigslist had removed the erotic ads, the attorney general for South Carolina, Henry McMaster, was still threatening to take action against the site.<\/p>\n
Buckmaster said Craigslist has filed suit against McMaster in federal court in South Carolina seeking a “restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against Craigslist and its executives.”<\/p>\n
McMaster has accused Craigslist of promoting prostitution and made demands that the Craigslist CEO said would effectively force the San Francisco-based company to shut down entirely in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
“Mr. McMaster’s repeated threats of criminal prosecution should we refuse to shut down Craigslist for South Carolina have left us little choice but to seek declaratory relief before the court,” Buckmaster wrote.<\/p>\n
New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced meanwhile that police had broken up a prostitution ring operating on Craigslist and arrested seven people.<\/p>\n
Cuomo, in a statement on Wednesday, said those arrested were involved in a prostitution enterprise called Room Service Entertainment that “advertised exclusively in the Erotic Services section of Craigslist.”<\/p>\n
“Until Craigslist gets serious about putting real protections in place, it will continue to be an environment where criminal operations thrive with impunity,” Cuomo said.<\/p>\n
“Today’s arrests underscore the inherent risks posed by Craigslist and, most importantly, the need for protections that are full-fledged, not half-baked,” he said.<\/p>\n
Craigslist responded to the New York arrests with a statement saying that “misuse of Craigslist in connection with illicit activity is unacceptable, and we work closely with law enforcement to address it.”<\/p>\n
It also noted that the operation by New York police “took place in 2008, well before Craigslist eliminated erotic services and commenced manual screening of all ads posted to adult services.”<\/p>\n
After shutting down its “erotic services” section under pressure from state law enforcement authorities, Craigslist opened a new “adult services” category with all ads being screened by hand to discourage those promoting prostitution.<\/p>\n
The pressure to shut down “erotic services” intensified recently with the arrest of a Boston-area medical student charged with murdering a woman who had posted an ad on Craigslist.<\/p>\n