Attorneys General Strong-Arm Craigslist

For decades, both the GOP and the Democrat party have accused one another of disregarding the Constitution. Issues ranging from gay marriage to abortion to stem cell use have pitted sides against each other, each one arguing that the Constitution supports their respective position.

This time is different. Mainly Democrat politicians, but a few Republicans too, recently joined forces to undermine freedom by utilizing strong-arm tactics to shut down a significant portion of a free enterprise called Craigslist. Attorneys General from across the country together recognized that the law favored the hugely-popular (and highly philanthropic, I might add) website. Accordingly, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, not one to let something as silly as the Constitution of the United States get in the way of a PR agenda, was among the 14 Democrat and 4 Republican AGs who made a concerted effort to compel Craigslist to shut down its "Erotic" section. They were successful.

For most of the website's existence, Craigslist has been known as a poor-man's Ebay. Anywhere in the country, and in many places abroad, one can post, free of charge, an item for sale, an open job, an available service and a wide variety of other things. Additional free offerings include the "Discussion Forums" section in which bored folks can freely discuss topics with labels such as, "arts," "divorce," "eco," "vegan," "queer," "garden," and "kink."

Subsidizing the mostly-free Craigslist site has been the highly-profitable "Erotic" section, in which people could place ads seeking, errr, companionship. During the period in which Craigslist allowed paid erotic ads, hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom might arguably fall under the umbrella of perverted, pathetic, pain-seeking, or all of the above, voluntarily placed or responded to ads for massages, exotic dancers or escort services. While this is not how I roll, the law bans none of it.

As with any legitimate publication in the country that offers personal ads, including Boston Magazine, The Phoenix, Bay Windows, and the New York Daily News, Craigslist was open to purveyors of interesting trades--a sort of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Realistically speaking, we all know that backs are not what are generally being scratched in these encounters, but so long as Craigslist isn't involved in money changing hands for sex acts, and all involved are consenting adults, there are no laws being broken.

I'm no sexpert, but it takes only a few key strokes on the computer to see the vast array of easily accessible personal ads. These ads, in both print and web venues, offer limitless opportunities for one to seek the spouse of his dreams, or, if a person is so inclined, to find someone who shares one's propensity for streaking, Cougar dating, nude vacationing or swinging. There are websites galore, such as swapfinder.com, philanderers.com, and milf-date.com, that offer opportunities for people with the most obscure of fetishes. All of it is legal.

So why did the politicians single out Craigslist? Attorney General Coakley alleges child sex trafficking and exploitation of women was taking place, though few, if any, such cases have been made to date despite the fact that hundreds of thousands--perhaps millions--of ads have been posted on the site. We know of Phillip Markoff, the man who allegedly murdered a woman (and mercifully offed himself in prison recently). Markhoff's victim had posted an ad offering a "sensuous massage," and Markhoff met up with her, clearly for reasons other than getting a back-rub. The woman's ad on Craigslist was enough to dub Markhoff "The Craigslist Killer." Now Coakley seems to want us to believe that without Craigslist's "Erotic" section, Markoff would have been following in Mother Theresa's foot steps rather than committing murder.

Applying the logic of the 18 Attorneys General who have effectively censored Craigslist, Google should be shut down the moment a trench-coat-wearing misfit types in "how to build a bomb" in its search engine. Ditto for public libraries and book stores that sell content capable of inciting illegal behavior, and for upscale hotels with bars in which "high-class" hookers connect with johns.

No doubt, I do not want my children in chat rooms featuring future "To Catch a Predator" stars. And were I the mother of girls, I'd do my best to steer them away from the exotic dancing and sensual massage trades. I also recognize that policing the web is good, and perpetrators of evil should be punished harshly. But as the law stands today in all states of this union, consenting adults have the right to engage in a variety of unpalatable behaviors. Should people choose to utilize a website or publication to seek out victims for illegal activities, the law has avenues to punish those perpetrators. And to the extent that any forum aids and abets, it should be shut down and the guilty prosecuted. Craigslist did no such things.