Another State AG Takes Aim at Craigslist’s Adult Section

Massachusetts AG Coakley wants Congress to amend a 1996 law that provides immunity to web-based services like Craigslist for the illegal acts of their users

BOSTON—Almost two years after 40 state attorneys general reached an agreement with Craigslist regarding its oversight of ads in the erotic services section, the pressure on the web-based classified service to shut down the section altogether is once again gathering serious momentum.

The latest salvo comes from Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley, who said the site should shutter the section and also be held responsible for crimes committed by people using its listing services.

“Whether it’s physical assault, sexual assaults, the kinds of prostitution and, some instances, homicides that have occurred as a result of what is un-policed trafficking online around the human sex trade,” she said, only days after the apparent suicide of Philip Markoff, the so-called “Craigslist killer.”

Considering recent court decisions in Craiglist’s favor, however, Coakley is seeking congressional action rather than relief from the courts. According to WBUR.org, she wants Congress to amend a 1996 federal law that gives websites like Craigslist immunity from prosecution for the illegal activities undertaken by users of the site.

“The Internet is exempt from that,” she said. “And that may have made sense in 1996, but the consequences of no policing, no ability to enforce what is a level playing field for the Internet, has had all kinds of consequences.”

In related news, a federal judge has denied a request by Craigslist for a permanent injunction that would have prevented South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster from prosecuting the site for aiding and abetting prostitution. U.S. District Court Judge C. Weston Houck said the actual threat of prosecution was too remote to warrant the injunction.

Last October, U.S. District Court Judge John Grady in Illinois ruled the federal Communications Decency Act protects Craigslist from liability for unlawful ads submitted by users.