TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: atlanta

  • More on Atlanta child prostitution

    Teen suicide spurs war on child prostitution:

    This is an article about Atlanta’s war on child prostitution. It briefly mentions craigslist and its usual denial of facilitation…

    Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote to craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster in August, urging them to remove postings of women engaged in activity that broke Georgia law and called on other mayors to file similar protests.

    Buckmaster said the company “shares Mayor Franklin’s concerns and are evaluating her suggestions.”

    The site warns its users that it prohibits illegal activity but he added: “We do not monitor the content of more than 25 million free postings craigslist users self-publish each month.”

    But I mostly wanted to point out the plight of Samantha Walker who committed suicide after testifying against one of the men who paid to have sex with her when she was 15.

    This is why I believe that craigslist needs to eliminate its erotic services section. Please read the entire article.

    There are no victimless crimes.

  • Prostitution in Atlanta

    Oldest Profession Has Young Victims, New Methods: Ann Woolner:

    This is a great article about Atlanta’s perceived problem with child prostitution and what police are doing to combat it. Of course, craigslist is brought into the conversation because Mayor Shirley Franklin previously called craigslist on the carpet for facilitating child prostitution.

    The author of the article, Ann Woolner, tried to contact craigslist about this and was met with the usual response.

    I tried to contact craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster to ask whether he had instituted any reforms since Franklin wrote him in August seeking closer monitoring, more stringent warnings and a tougher attitude toward those who advertise illegal services or otherwise break the Web site’s rules. Questions e-mailed to a press contact for Buckmaster weren’t answered.

    How long will craigslist continue to stick its fingers in its ears and go “LALALALALALALALALALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING”?

  • craigslist denies child prostitution facilitation

    Responding to concerns:

    It wasn’t that long ago that the Mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin, chided craigslist for facilitating child prostitution. Of course, craigslist brushed it off. One of Ms. Frankin’s advisors even mentioned that Facebook and MySpace have been very forthcoming with the mayor’s office even when not legally obligated to do so.

    However, our favorite craigslist mouthpiece, Susan MacTavish Best, had this to say…

    “Craigslist has an erotic services section on the site because our users asked us to create it in order to keep the personals section clear of erotic service ads. (Some folks when looking for a date do not want to have to look at ads for erotic services). Certainly, we … don’t want the site to be used for illegal activity. But we do believe that there should be a place for people to advertise legal escort services. We have over 30 million users a month. As we responded to the Mayor of Atlanta, we are always interested in hearing how we can make Craigslist better. Craigslist makes no money from erotic services because like most of the site, it is free to post there … “

    Legal escort services? No such thing my dear. They may pose as legal but we all know what they’re fronts for. And again you say that you don’t want craigslist used for illegal activities but you’re not doing anything to discourage it. So basically by moving the erotic services section out of the personals you just swept it under the rug hoping nobody would notice.

    What’s it going to take craigslist before you do something about this? Are you waiting for a toddler to get pimped out or worse?

  • A politician finally notices craigslist

    Mayor rips craigslist over child prostitution:

    Finally, a politician has noticed the wretched hive of scum and villainy that craigslist has become. And if anybody knows anything about scum and villainy it’s the mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin. (That was a dig against the city, not necessarily the mayor.) Anyway, she has come out against craigslist accusing them of being facilitators in child prostitution.

    “Children are being marketed through craigslist,” Franklin said Tuesday during an update on the mayor’s “Dear John” campaign, a crackdown on the city’s child prostitution industry.

    Craigslist, found on the Web at craigslist.org, may be best known as a bulletin board for people who want to sell a car, buy a home or meet people. But Atlanta vice officer Kelleita Thurman said Tuesday that craigslist and similar sites account for 85 percent of the sexual liaisons men arrange in Atlanta with boys and girls.

    In a letter sent Tuesday to the company, Franklin said the site could do more to prevent itself from being used “as a means of promoting and enabling child prostitution.” She called on the site to revise its warning on pages for erotic services and personal ads and to remove postings that offer sexual services for sale, among other things.

    As usual, craigslist had their same non-answers…

    Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mail that she and Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster are in Europe and “neither of us are aware of such a letter so it would not be possible to comment about this.”

    Company founder Craig Newmark, who also was mailed Franklin’s letter, no longer is involved in the company’s daily affairs and is traveling, Best said.

    Maybe this is the first step in politicians recognizing what a crime-filled scumhole craigslist’s erotic services section is.