gls
05-13-2009, 04:25 PM
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-web-blumenthal-0514may14,0,4508365.story
Craigslist will eliminate its "erotic services" section and individually check every posting in a new "adult" section to eliminate ads for prostitution and pornography, according to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Blumenthal, who led negotiations with the company, will announce the agreement, reached late Tuesday night, at a press conference in Hartford at 11 a.m. today.
"These measures are a solid next step, not a complete solution," Blumenthal, head of a multi-state task force of attorneys general addressing the issue, said this morning.
Craigslist executives, who Blumenthal and other attorneys general met with last week in New York City, said the changes will be made within seven days.
"We will be monitoring closely to make sure this measure is more than just a name change from erotic to adult," Blumenthal said.
The move comes in the wake of the case of Philip Markoff, the medical student charged in Boston with murder and robbery after allegedly meeting two women through the Internet site.
Authorities have said robbery was probably the initial motive when Markoff, 23, allegedly killed a masseuse and bound and robbed a prostitute in upscale Boston hotels in April.
Blumenthal, who last year led 43 state attorneys general in reaching an agreement on restricting "erotic services" ads with craigslist, said at the time that further measures are required "to stop the pimping and prostituting in plain sight."
Craigslist's CEO, Jim Buckmaster, has said criminals who use the site are virtually guaranteed to get caught because they leave electronic trails that are easily traced. Buckmaster said there have been billions of interactions on craigslist and "compared to human society as a whole the risks of craigslist are low, but they're not zero."
Markoff is being held without bail, charged with the killing of Julissa Brisman, a masseuse from New York City, and kidnapping and armed robbery of a prostitute.
Of course The Hartford Courant's sister paper The Hartford Advocate can still run those type of ads in the back pages of its paper. For some reason no mention of that in the above story.
Craigslist will eliminate its "erotic services" section and individually check every posting in a new "adult" section to eliminate ads for prostitution and pornography, according to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Blumenthal, who led negotiations with the company, will announce the agreement, reached late Tuesday night, at a press conference in Hartford at 11 a.m. today.
"These measures are a solid next step, not a complete solution," Blumenthal, head of a multi-state task force of attorneys general addressing the issue, said this morning.
Craigslist executives, who Blumenthal and other attorneys general met with last week in New York City, said the changes will be made within seven days.
"We will be monitoring closely to make sure this measure is more than just a name change from erotic to adult," Blumenthal said.
The move comes in the wake of the case of Philip Markoff, the medical student charged in Boston with murder and robbery after allegedly meeting two women through the Internet site.
Authorities have said robbery was probably the initial motive when Markoff, 23, allegedly killed a masseuse and bound and robbed a prostitute in upscale Boston hotels in April.
Blumenthal, who last year led 43 state attorneys general in reaching an agreement on restricting "erotic services" ads with craigslist, said at the time that further measures are required "to stop the pimping and prostituting in plain sight."
Craigslist's CEO, Jim Buckmaster, has said criminals who use the site are virtually guaranteed to get caught because they leave electronic trails that are easily traced. Buckmaster said there have been billions of interactions on craigslist and "compared to human society as a whole the risks of craigslist are low, but they're not zero."
Markoff is being held without bail, charged with the killing of Julissa Brisman, a masseuse from New York City, and kidnapping and armed robbery of a prostitute.
Of course The Hartford Courant's sister paper The Hartford Advocate can still run those type of ads in the back pages of its paper. For some reason no mention of that in the above story.