Craigslist Makes World's Oldest Profession Safer

Craigslist has been under assault from state attorneys general with political agendas, the most recent being from South Carolina, for carrying ads for erotic services.South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has warned Craigslist that it would be "subject to criminal investigation and prosecution" if it doesn't entirely remove its erotic services section by May 15.

Craigslist has tried to do its part to satisfy political demands, meeting with law enforcement officials and agreeing to curb ads promoting illegal activities. Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster noted in a blog posting that,

Among concessions to those AGs, Craigslist agreed to require advertisers of erotic ads to provide a verifiable phone number and authorized credit card -- and pay a $5 fee.

Tara Sawyer, a spokesperson for the Sex Worker Outreach Project, an advocacy group supporting the rights of sex workers and other providers of erotic services, noted that "the rest of the site is free, so why are you singling us out here?"

Singled out indeed. This isn't the first time that sex workers have been used as a political pinata -- it's no surprise to learn that McMaster is running for governor -- but this time, law enforcement officials are putting them at greater risk by pulling the Craigslist security blanket off their backs.

Sawyer told me that Craigslist ads allow prostitutes to work independently, which keeps them out of the hands of abusive pimps, and, in contrast to working on the street, gives them the opportunity to judge someone before deciding whether or not to sell them their services. "It's way safer to work off of Craigslist because we get to say no a lot earlier [in the process], and we get more opportunities to say no," she said.

Buckmaster gave added voice to that point, noting that classified ads in Craigslist afford more protection than do those posted in newspapers.

From a purely legalistic point of view, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the AGs have "no case."

But as Larry Dignan pointed out, the AGs will posture, even in cases where they don't stand a chance of winning (see Giuliani, Rudy) in order to score political points. While no one may have ever won an election by supporting the rights of sex workers, you might expect that, where minority rights are concerned, at least the press would show up. But you'll read nary a word in print to support this abused minority, maybe because the newspaper industry is all too happy to watch Craigslist, which has taken its classified ads business away, twist in the political winds.

As Wendy Murphy wrote in the Boston Globe:

Sawyer isn't particularly surprised by the Craigslist saga, saying sex workers are routinely treated with contempt by law enforcement officials. "We're not treated like human beings, and that's what needs to change," she said.