Search all of Craigslist at one time

Cool!

“+ allofcraigs.com: For most people, Craigslist is at its most useful on a local level. You want to sell a couch or are looking for a house to rent. But what if you’re a serious collector of…say, Matchbox cars. Location doesn’t really matter. You can easily buy something small like this from someone across the country, who can ship it to you without a great deal of difficulty. But who the heck wants to hop from one local Craigslist to another, running the same search repeatedly? Come here instead, and search all craigslists at the same time. A dropdown menu allows you to pinpoint a category to search, and you can also limit by dollar amount and how long ago ads were posted.”

Article:

Judge blocks prosecution of Craigslist officials

“A federal judge has temporarily blocked South Carolina’s attorney general and 16 solicitors from seeking to prosecute executives of Craigslist on prostitution or obscenity charges.

The consent order by U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck of Charleston, S.C., was an agreement reached earlier between Attorney General Henry McMaster’s office and lawyers for the popular Internet classified ad site.

McMaster spokesman Trey Walker said Friday the ruling doesn’t mean McMaster is backing away from prosecuting company officials if they knowingly allow South Carolina ads that solicit for prostitution or contain obscene pictures.

Those threats prompted Craigslist on Wednesday to file a federal lawsuit in Charleston against McMaster and the solicitors. As part of the suit, the San Francisco-based company asked for an immediate temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop any prosecution.”

Article:

Craigslist sues South Carolina Attorney General

Right on!

“Craigslist has announced its filed a federal lawsuit against South Carolina’s Attorney General over the office’s threats of legal action against the popular website. Earlier this month the office threatened to file criminal charges of promoting prositution against the site if they didn’t comply to its demands to remove the Erotic Services section.”

“In addition to being unwarranted by the facts, legal experts agree that the charges threatened represent an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, and are clearly barred by federal law,” said Craigslist in a blog post. “Mr. McMaster’s repeated threats of criminal prosecution should we refuse to shut down Craigslist for South Carolina have left us little choice but to seek declaratory relief before the court.”

Article:

CVS pharmacist charged with cyberbullying

This sounds like the cyber equivalent of waiters spitting in the food of  annoying patrons.

“According to the victim, she went to CVS on Aug. 11 at approximately 9:15 p.m. to pick up several prescriptions. When she arrived, Medina allegedly told her there were no refills remaining on two of the medications she takes daily.

The victim said she asked Medina why he hadn’t called her doctor to have the prescriptions refilled as many pharmacists will do or advised her earlier in the day when she called that there was a problem.

Medina became rude and then grudgingly agreed to her request for a day’s supply of medication until her doctor could be contacted, according to the victim.

But the victim said she was so taken aback by her treatment, she asked for the name and number of Medina’s supervisor. She said the pharmacist scrawled the information on a piece of paper and shoved it across the counter at her. That’s when she decided to leave.

“There was something about his eyes and the way he looked at me; I just didn’t feel comfortable,” she said. “I said to myself ‘forget the medication’ and I just left.”

At 6:30 a.m. the next morning, the victim said she was awakened by a disturbing phone call from an unknown man asking her about the kinky, sexual promises she made in her ad.

Confused, the victim, who is married, at first thought it was a prank until the caller provided personal details that convinced her there was an ad posted on Craigslist.

The victim discovered the headlines for the ad read “Kinky (victim’s name) looking for a good time” and “Busty (victim’s name) looking for a good time in Norwalk” The ad copy exaggerated certain parts of her body, included offers of nontraditional sex and insinuated the victim was full of sexual stamina by assuring potential men that “twice is nice, if you can.”

The ad also told potential partners she would be available “24/7” for them and included her street address and telephone number, which led one man who answered the ad to her door where he was greeted by the victim’s angry husband.

According to an e-mail from officials at Craigslist, the ads ran in its “erotic services” section in the cities of New Haven, Hartford and New York. Craigslist removed the ad Aug. 14 and turned the information over to the Norwalk Police Department”

Article:

Cook County Sheriff won’t drop Craigslist suit yet

“Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is not yet ready to drop his lawsuit against Craigslist. That’s despite the Website’s announcement that it’s taking extra steps to filter out ads for prostitution. Dart spokesperson Steve Patterson says the sheriff is “cautiously optimistic” Craigslist will follow through.

PATTERSON: We’ve heard promises from Craigslist before about changes they would make, promises to better monitor what’s going on there, and they’ve failed to live up to those promises. So, while it looks like a step in the right direction, we’re not totally comfortable just yet.”

Article:

Craigslist caves to AG pressure

Does anyone think this will really curb prostitution?

“Craigslist, the Web’s largest classified advertising site, said on Wednesday that it would close its erotic services category, which critics have said is a forum that fosters prostitution and other illegal activities.

To replace it, the company has created a category called adult services, in which postings will be reviewed by employees who will look for indications of activity that is illegal or violates the site’s guidelines. The erotic services category would be deleted next Wednesday, Craigslist said.

Craigslist has been under increasing pressure from officials in several states, as violent crimes involving people who had made contact through the site made national headlines. But the changes did not appear to go far enough to satisfy everyone in the growing ranks of Craigslist’s detractors.”

 Article:

AGs aren’t suing phone co. for aiding prostitution

I like this argument as to why these suits against Craiglist are ridiculous:

“Craigslist’s very defensible position in a nut shell is… they tell people that they cannot use their site to engage in illegal activities, when people flag them for doing so they take their ads down, they can’t be held responsible for the fact that they can’t stop them completely. People use the phone to arrange prostitution engagements but the South Carolina AG isn’t suing the cellphone carriers to stop them.”

Posting courtsey Clarion Content:

NC Attorney General talks sense about Craigslist

The North Carolina Republicans looking at all the State AGS getting on the anti-Craiglist bandwagon, pushed his state’s Attorney General to do likewise but was rebuffed by Roy Cooper who said he was committed to directing his state’s resources towards child predators and child pornographers.

Good for him.  Craigslist is a convenient political scapegoat for a problem that has been around long before that online service and will be long after no matter how many AGs pontificate about its evils.

Article:

Craigslist negiotating with AGs over sex ads

Looks like they are running a bit scared:

“Three state attorneys general plan to meet with Craigslist representatives to begin negotiations toward eliminating advertisements from the site for prostitution and other suspected illegal sexual activities.

State attorneys general from Missouri, Illinois, and Connecticut will represent a group of state attorneys general in a meeting Tuesday in New York City with representatives of the Web site.”

Article:

Craigslist to met with IL AG – talk about Dart suit?

From craigslist blog:

“We look forward to meeting with (Illinois) Attorney General Madigan to discuss progress made since our Joint Statement last November, and to hear any and all ideas she and others may have that could help reach our shared goal of eliminating illegal activity from craigslist, while preserving all of the functionality and positive attributes that are currently enjoyed by the overwhelmingly law-abiding craigslist community of users.”

craigslist blog post

Thanks law dork.