Madigan
Advertising for erotic services on the Web site craigslist will require posters to provide a phone number and credit card, thanks to an agreement reached by the company and 43 state attorneys general.
The agreement is crafted with the goal of reducing illegal sex trade ads. All proceeds from erotic services will be donated to charity, and craigslist will supply the credit card and phone number information to law enforcement.
"In the last week alone, our investigators identified over 9,000 Illinois postings for erotic services and prostitution on craigslist," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said.
"This agreement is intended to be a first step to make sure that craigslist begins to address the prostitution and exploitation of women that occurs online."
Attorneys general have also reached agreements with social network sites Facebook and MySpace that are designed to protect users from sexual predators.
Craigslist will sue 14 Internet and software companies that allegedly help users get around the site's defenses for posting erotic service ads. Information about those companies will be given to law enforcement.
Craigslist must also work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and explore technology that would block inappropriate images and word sequences from being posted.
Craigslist will add tags to the erotic services section of its site that helps parental screening software and meet with the attorneys general to discuss additional measures.
In addition to Illinois, the following states signed the agreement with craigslist: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at john@legalnewsline.com.