SAN FRANCISCO — State attorneys general from across the country are stepping up pressure on Craigslist to shutter what they call the nation's busiest virtual street corner, where prostitution runs rampant.
Craigslist says it has reduced by 95% the number of inappropriate listings on the erotic services section of its classified-ads website since November, when the San Francisco company reached an accord with more than 40 of the states' top prosecutors.
But several attorneys general say that they still find hundreds of ads for sexual services there each day and that Craigslist should do more.
"This is the world's oldest profession using the world's newest technology," South Carolina Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster said in an interview. Last week, he warned Craigslist that it would be "subject to criminal investigation and prosecution" if the erotic services section wasn't removed by May 15.
Craigslist says that it's shielded from such prosecution by federal law but that it's taking great pains to clean up its website, which research firm ComScore Inc. says attracts more than 40 million U.S. visitors a month. The privately held company's lawyers discussed its enforcement methods with a half-dozen attorneys general or their representatives in New York last week, and Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Patrick Lynch said they agreed to meet again this week.
"Criminal misuse of Craigslist is absolutely unacceptable, and we are committed to working together with law enforcement to eliminate it," Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster said in an e-mailed statement.
In a post on Craigslist's corporate blog, Buckmaster noted the quick progress in removing such listings and the continuing collaboration with law enforcement. He also cautioned McMaster "to look closely at the facts before proceeding with his threat."
Law enforcement officials have often complained about the ease with which prostitutes and their clients can arrange encounters on Craigslist. But officials have stepped up their criticism since the slaying of masseuse Julissa Brisman, whose body was found April 14 in a Boston hotel. Police say the killer found her through a Craigslist ad.
Boston University medical student Philip Markoff, 23, is accused of bludgeoning Brisman with a gun and then shooting her. Rhode Island authorities filed additional charges last week, saying he robbed a stripper at a Warwick, R.I., Holiday Inn two days later. He was arrested the following week as he drove to a local casino with his fiancee.
