Interesting Debate at Globe & Mail forum - join in

[Fred Zed]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...om-canadian-websites/article1843596/comments/

 

[Miss*Bijou]

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Some good ones :

Can't disagree... Religion is 1000 more dangerous than consensual sex will ever be.

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[Miss*Bijou]

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Btw - this is the article:

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[maroonedsailor]

The Christian Right is a very noisy, well funded, well organized group of control freaks who actually believe it's their business to run your life. (for your own good, of course since you're obviously incapable of making any intelligent decisions on your own) Time for the silent majority to fight back before we end up like the States.

 

[Man Mountain]

Craigslist Shuts Down International “Adult Services” Sections

It turns out that the whole "Canadian" angle of this story has been overstated. According to the following, the sections have been pulled from craigslist internationally.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/12/craigslist-adult-services-international

Craigslist Shuts Down International “Adult Services” Sections
By Ryan Singel December 18, 2010 | 3:18 pm | Categories: Social Media

Craigslist, the popular online classified ad service, has seemingly shut down its controversial “adult services” section worldwide.

In early September, Craigslist shuttered that section in the U.S., following years of being dogged on the issue by states attorneys general and some human trafficking groups, which eventually led to a hearing before Congress. The section included ads for legal quasi-sexual services and thinly veiled ads for prostitution.

Now, Craigslist has quietly removed the section in all its international sites, including those in Canada, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.

When Craigslist shut down the section in the U.S., it defiantly replaced the section with the word “censored,” but the international shutdown came with no such protest and no announcement.

Craigslist says the section was originally created at the requests of users in order to clean up the site’s free online dating sections.

Later at the request of numerous U.S. states attorneys general, Craigslist began requiring a $10 fee paid by credit card and a working phone number to place an ad in that section. It also hired a lawyer to vet every ad for illegality and suggestions of underage girls. Craigslist was then attacked for being greedy and for profiting off of prostitution, an odd charge for a company that’s constantly criticized by business analysts for not charging for more services (the company charges only for job and housing listings in select markets).

Craigslist argued that shutting down the service would simply force the ads onto other services with less diligence and increase the spam in its other sections.

Craigslist became a favorite target of state attorneys generals, such as South Carolina’s Henry McMaster and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal who had ambitions for higher office. (In Blumenthal’s case, he’s now the incoming junior U.S. Senator.)

However, Craigslist was operating legally under the law, which puts legal liability on the person posting to the internet, not the internet service they use.

A Craigslist spokeswoman declined to comment on the unannounced disappearance of the section from the international versions of the site.

Backpage.com, a classified ads sites owned by Village Voice media, continues to run an adult services section, and saw a spike in traffic since Craigslist shut down its U.S. service in September.

 

[Miss*Bijou]

It turns out that the whole "Canadian" angle of this story has been overstated. According to the following, the sections have been pulled from craigslist internationally.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/12/craigslist-adult-services-international

It doesn't change all the talk and lobbying efforts made by the knobs in Canada. It would be overstated if no one had been pushing CL to shut it down in Canada and making all kinds of ridiculous statements about human trafficking on CL to justify their request. By that point I'm sure CL had enough of these goombas and was like fuck it, take it all down I'm not doing this again when some dumb politician from another country decides to play hero. lol

 

[Man Mountain]

It doesn't change all the talk and lobbying efforts made by the knobs in Canada. It would be overstated if no one had been pushing CL to shut it down in Canada and making all kinds of ridiculous statements about human trafficking on CL to justify their request. By that point I'm sure CL had enough of these goombas and was like fuck it, take it all down I'm not doing this again when some dumb politician from another country decides to play hero. lol

I wouldn't argue against your point that the lobbying must've been a major factor in the decision making process to ulitmately remove the section. But from what I've read, nobody at craigslist would adress the questions of why the ultimate decision was reached. But the point was that the original news stories were all about how this was a "Canadian" issue when the sections were actually removed internationally. I don't know if there was active lobbying against the sections in other parts of the world or not, to tell you the truth. For what are probably obvious reasons, my interests have focussed more on the Canadian equation. However, I guess my point is that if we continue to just focus on it as a "Canadian" issue even after noting that it was an "international" decision, we give "credit" to those Canadian lobbyists who will undoubtedly step forward to claim this as a victory for themselves. I choose to note that the decision was made internationally as that may take some of that power away from them. I'm fully aware that it's spin. But they'll spin it their way. I'll spin it mine.

 

[Man Mountain]

Craigslist bows to pressure, drops sex ads

Interesting points made in this piece by professor John Lowman and Susi.

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2010/12/19/16612471.html

Craigslist bows to pressure, drops sex ads
By JEFFREY YIP, QMI AGENCY

Following months of pressure from the federal government, Craigslist removed the “erotic services” section from its website Saturday.

The government was concerned the section on the classified website was promoting child prostitution and human trafficking.

“Obviously we want to stop trafficking. Obviously we want to stop any involvement of children in prostitution,” said John Lowman, a prostitution expert and SFU criminology professor.

“But basically it’s a moral crusade being fought by prohibitionists and the Conservative government … In Canada, prostitution is legal,” he claimed.

He also questioned the ad removals.

“Police agencies were having some success finding people involved in trafficking and child prostitution by monitoring Craigslist. So they’re closing down one of the best law enforcement tools they appear to have.”

Susan Davis, an activist and sex worker, agreed with Lowman.

She said closing the section made life more difficult for sex workers.

“Many rely on it for their income. Some women I know only run ads on Craigslist. Now what are they suppose to do?”

The removal came after Friday’s Red Umbrella Day, an international event calling for the end of violence against sex workers.

“It’s unfortunate they’ve taken away a relatively safe way for workers to meet [and] screen clients,” Davis said. “We’re going to see an increase in street prostitution and all the problems associated with that.”

Despite the removal, new ads were found under other categories, such as “therapeutic” or “casual encounters”.

 

[Man Mountain]

Prostitution ads still on Canadian Craigslist sites

This article is from today. Now I'm worried! Note the talk of using more "creative" ways to get the company's attention and talk of "regulating this aspect of the internet". Also note that some of these comments are from the NDP Justice critic! That would seem to indicate that not only do they agree with the Conservative's position but are advocating that the government isn't going far enough. From the NDP!

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20101221/craigslist-prostitution-ads-101221/

Prostitution ads still on Canadian Craigslist sites
The Canadian Press
Date: Tuesday Dec. 21, 2010 6:48 AM ET

TORONTO — A push to get Craigslist to remove ads for prostitutes from its Canadian websites continued Monday, despite a move by the San Francisco-based company during the weekend to eliminate its erotic services section.

The federal and Ontario governments expressed cautious optimism Saturday after the erotic services section disappeared from most of Craigslist's Canadian websites.

However, a couple of mouse clicks Monday quickly revealed classified ads for prostitutes were still being posted on Craigslist for Canadian cities in the therapeutic services section. Price lists for various acts accompanied some postings, although without the sexually explicit pictures that had previously been offered.

Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General was still trying Monday to determine if Craigslist had agreed to its request to remove the prostitution-related ads from its Canadian sites.

"It's clear to everyone they have made changes to the website," said Nauman Khan, spokesman for Attorney General Chris Bentley.

"It appears that the changes do respond to our request ... but there are still (prostitution) ads on the website. Parity is not there between Canadian and American websites ... so we've got to keep pushing."

Craigslist moved in early September to remove the prostitution ads under its erotic services section on its American websites after requests from several states' attorneys general.

Bentley first wrote the online classified ad company after the ads were taken off U.S. websites, requesting that Craigslist remove the prostitution ads from its Canadian sites as well.

The federal government, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta subsequently joined Ontario's fight, also writing Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster demanding the ads be removed.

Bentley recently expressed frustration with Craigslist, complaining the company had done nothing to respond to the requests from him and other Canadian officials except to ask for a meeting.

No meeting was needed for Craigslist to do in Canada what it did so quickly in the United States, Bentley said as he vowed to find more "creative" ways of getting the company's attention.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Saturday that Ottawa was concerned the Craigslist ads make it easier for criminals who engage in human trafficking and pimping out children as prostitutes.

Ontario NDP justice critic Peter Kormos said Monday that the Craigslist situation shows how "untamable" the Internet can be and how prevalent prostitution is in our society.

"This situation demonstrates how difficult it is when you don't have the explicit co-operation of operators like Craigslist," said Kormos.

"What we need is the federal government to be more active in regulating this aspect of the Internet ... by making Internet service providers responsible (for the content)."

Craigslist has not responded to requests over several days from The Canadian Press for comment.

Last month, Chilliwack police arrested a 14-year-old British Columbia girl and charged her not only with prostituting herself, but with pimping out other under age girls through ads on Craigslist.

While many weekly newspapers in Canada carry explicit ads, Nicholson has said they are more likely than Craigslist to exercise some editorial control to make sure the ads don't promote child exploitation or human trafficking.

 

[jnewton]

If they are allowed to force ISP's (Internet Service Providers) to be responsible for the content that customers are accessing through a provided Internet service, it will make Chinese censorship look like child's play. The market will rapidly collapse to a few large providers who are in bed with the government, since no small provider will have the means (nor likely the desire) to engage in the massive filtering that will be needed to protect the ISP from criminal liability.

Joe Stalin would be proud.


http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201...on-ads-101221/

Prostitution ads still on Canadian Craigslist sites
The Canadian Press
Date: Tuesday Dec. 21, 2010 6:48 AM ET

TORONTO — A push to get Craigslist to remove ads for prostitutes from its Canadian websites continued Monday, despite a move by the San Francisco-based company during the weekend to eliminate its erotic services section.

...

Ontario NDP justice critic Peter Kormos said Monday that the Craigslist situation shows how "untamable" the Internet can be and how prevalent prostitution is in our society.

"This situation demonstrates how difficult it is when you don't have the explicit co-operation of operators like Craigslist," said Kormos.

"What we need is the federal government to be more active in regulating this aspect of the Internet ... by making Internet service providers responsible (for the content)."

...