Craigslist.org is yet another example of how our world is becoming increasingly more impersonal and reliant on technology to fulfill perverse desires. It is advertised as a classified website, but it actually facilitates much darker and devious needs than posting ads to sell your refrigerator.
It appears that Craigslist promotes prostitution on a large scale, using the power of the Internet to advertise illicit sex acts to the masses. Who needs online porn when you can order a prostitute on the Internet instead?
According to the Los Angeles Times, missing children, runaways, abused women and women brought in forcibly from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they’re being pimped on Craigslist.
Sex offenders now have the power to discretely turn on their computers and order a child for sexual favors through a “legitimate” website.
What I can’t understand is how Craigslist can operate while facilitating these horrible crimes. Federal law offers broad immunity to service providers for content posted by users as long as they respond to specific complaints, but is that acceptable?
I don’t think it is. One of the many problems with the internet is the massive amounts of information that can be accessed with a few keystrokes. It is nearly impossible to monitor all of the illegal activity that occurs online, and it only makes it more difficult for law enforcement to crack down when we don’t hold providers accountable for soliciting criminal acts.
One man who agrees with me is Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. His office filed a lawsuit against Craigslist last Friday, citing that the website facilitates illegal sexual activity on a massive scale.
While conducting a sting operation on Craiglist, Dart said one of his own officers — writing as a 15-year-old girl — posted ads for sex on the site that generated responses from several people, including a convicted sex offender.
The Los Angeles Times reported that federal prosecutors charged a New York man in November with being a violent pimp who forced young girls and women into prostitution, alleging he advertised on Craigslist the services of women between the ages of 15 and 20.
Hey Craigslist, how are your people sleeping at night knowing that underage children are being prostituted on your website?
CEO Jim Buckmaster said that the website is discouraging illegal activity by requiring anyone posting “erotic services” ads to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card.
That’s about as effective as showing up to a knife fight with a water gun.
I’m happy to see that Sheriff Dart is taking legal action against Craigslist because it’s obvious the website is not doing much to discourage the alleged prostitution rings that they currently host.
The Internet allows criminals — under the guise of free speech — to sexually exploit women and children and that is flat out wrong. Craigslist should use this negative publicity as an opportunity to take a stand against such corruption. Enough is enough.
Grady Dunne is a senior journalism major and an assistant opinions editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
lets get together
I am a deformed 20 year old and have a had a really hard time meeting girls over the years. When I heard that Craigslist had this type of service on it, I was skeptical at first….. but then I checked it out and now my life is like that of a Saudi Prince with a harem of fine women at my disposal. I am knee deep in fine women. The federal assistance checks I collect once every two weeks have facilitated a new social life for me. Now I can afford to feel the touch of a real woman and without Craigslist that could’ve never happened for me. I agree that child prostitution is wrong but for this dog Craigslist has turned me into a certified p.i.m.p. Out!
“Legalize it… don’t criticize it” – Peter Tosh