TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: Susan MacTavish Best

  • Cali craigslist rapist convicted

    Santa Clara County jury convicts Craigslist attacker:

    26-year-old Kanari Nelson of San Jose, California was convicted yesterday for the assault and rapes of various craigslist prostitutes. He’s looking at a max of 200 years behind bars. That’s not a misprint. He could be sentenced up to 2 centuries.

    Let’s hear from the D.A.

    “Anytime this guy wanted to sexually assault somebody, he just had to go online and pick from a menu,” said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney James Leonard, who won the case.

    Craigslist, of course, had no comment but their mouthpiece, Susan MacTavish Best, said there would be a significant announcement about that topic today. I’m all a-flutter wondering what that announcement might be. You don’t think it could be *gasp* that they’re eliminating the erotic services section? Nah. They’d never do that no matter how many women get raped.

  • craigslist denies responsibility again

    Cops trail Craigslist ads to sex offenders:

    This is an article from The Tennessean about craigslist prostitution in their area. Nothing new that hasn’t been covered before. But once again craigslist is paying nothing but lip service to the actual problem. Once again let’s hear from craigslist’s mouthpiece Susan MacTavish Best.

    Susan MacTavish Best, a Craigslist spokeswoman, says the misuse of the site for illegal purposes is unacceptable and that a series of new measures is being undertaken to reduce the number of erotic services ads by at least 80 percent.

    “Unlike the weekly newspapers, telephone yellow pages and numerous websites large and small that make a profitable business out of ‘erotic services’ ads,” she wrote in an e-mail, “Craigslist earns no revenue whatsoever from such ads.”

    Again I say if it’s so unacceptable to craigslist why don’t they do away with the erotic services section? Personally, I think that newspapers and phone books shouldn’t be advertising for hookers either but at least with those mediums a paper trail is left if an investigation is warranted. A paper trail is a lot easier to follow than an electronic one. Out of all the times that you claim to assist law enforcement how many illegal acts on craigslist have gone unchecked? It’s almost like craigslist is proud of the fact that they help facilitate prostitution and child prostitution.

    The fact that they claim they have no responsibility in such matters is a joke.

    So Ms. Best, are you proud of what craigslist does?

  • NY politician calls for craigslist crackdown

    Pol calls for Craigslist prostitution bust:

    A New York City politician has called on the NYPD to crack down on craigslist’s erotic services section. City Councilman Eric Gioia called a press conference yesterday likening craigslist to the wild west.

    What used to happen on seedy street corners and brothels has moved to the Internet,”

    Gioia and his staff conducted an investigation of the top 100 listings on the erotic services section for about three weeks and found that 85 percent of the ads seemed to be advertising illicit activities. The councilman said some of the ads used vague wording to offer paid sexual acts, such as “companionship” for “a generous donation.”

    “They’re pretty obvious,” Gioia said. “It’s high time that law enforcement in New York take a hard look at what’s happening.”

    The NYPD had no response and craigslist had their usual ‘we’re doing everything to help law enforcement except taking the erotic services section down’ excuse…

    A Craigslist spokeswoman said the site recently implemented new measures that reduced the number of erotic services ads by 80 percent, and other improvements have eliminated a high percentage of other objectionable content.

    “The misuse of Craigslist for illegal purposes is completely unacceptable to us and we are continuously devising new means of detecting and blocking such activity,” spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mailed statement.

    Again, if it was so unacceptable they’d do away with the section.

  • The victimless crime in Milwaukee

    Craigslist child sex ads lead to arrests:

    A 15-year-old runaway girl from Onalaska, Wisconsin was found in Milwaukee prostituting herself on craigslist.

    Milwaukee police found that girl’s ad on Craigslist offering oral sex and other acts. She also was advertised as working with another female whose age was not listed in the warrant. Like the 16-year-old, detectives found the Onalaska girl at the Port Motel.

    Around that time, 33 advertisements on Craigslist offered prostitution in the Milwaukee area, about half of them from the 15-year-old girl, the warrant indicates.

    Police arrested an unnamed 21-year-old male who posted the ads on craigslist for her.

    But there are no victims here right?

    Our favorite craigslist mouthpiece had this to say…

    “Our hearts go out to the victim and their family, and there is nothing more gut-wrenching to our staff than to hear Craigslist has been abused to exploit children,” said Susan MacTavish Best of Craigslist.

    Riiiiiight. If your gut is that wrenched why does the erotic services section still exist?

    craigslist, the home of lip service.

  • Katherine Ann Olson and Donna Jou

    Katherine Ann Olson and Donna Jou

    Craigslist users wary after killing of baby-sitter:

    Susan MacTavish Best of craigslist had the following to say about the murder of Katherine Ann Olson…

    “We were shocked and saddened to hear of this terrible tragedy, and our deepest sympathies are with the victim’s family and friends,” said Susan MacTavish Best, a spokeswoman for craigslist, an international network of online communities that features free classified advertising.

    Best said there’s never been a homicide linked to craigslist since it was founded 12 years ago.

    “Assuming the craigslist link is confirmed, this would be the first time,” Best said, referring to Olson’s death.

    Best said craigslist officials work with law enforcement whenever they receive a request, but she wouldn’t comment specifically about their involvement in the Olson investigation.

    I bet you think I’m going to rip her again, but I’m not. Unlike when defending the erotic services section, Ms. MacTavish-Best did not use this as an opportunity to tout how great craigslist is.

    However, this may not be the first craigslist murder. In a sort of twisted backward way, but with no disrespect meant towards anyone involved, there is still the matter of Donna Jou.

    Donna Jou went missing in July and was last seen leaving on a date with a guy by the name of John Burgess that she met on craigslist. Unfortunately, as of yet, she has not been found and even less, unfortunately, police are unable to charge Burgess with anything due to lack of evidence. However, it’s entirely possible that Donna Jou may be the first craigslist murder.

    Now, you may think that there’s a difference between answering a personal ad and a job ad on craigslist. There is, but only slightly. Predators don’t usually use job ads to attract victims, but it’s not unheard of.

    This past July, I posted a story about a woman who was approached sexually by a man she thought was a prospective employer.

    I guess what I’m saying is that since criminal elements lurk in the rest of craigslist it was only a matter of time before they seeped into the employment ads as well. So no matter what kind of ad you’re placing or responding to on craigslist it doesn’t hurt to be overly cautious. The old saying holds true here, just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

    Be careful out there.

  • craigslist denies child prostitution facilitation

    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?

  • Busting the safety myth

    Busting the safety myth

    As hookers move from streets to Net, cops follow:

    For those of you who think that prostitutes are safer on craigslist than they are on the streets, I present you this quote…

    Some prostitutes believe they’re safer advertising on Web sites, but they’re not, said Julie, a former prostitute who asked that her last name not be used. When Julie began using the Internet for prostitution about two years ago, she tried to screen her customers, but responding to one led to her being raped and robbed, she said.

    “People can tell you anything on the Internet and they do,” said Julie, who is 23 and became a prostitute at 17. “What better place to get a woman if you want to do something to her? I would meet these guys and no one else would see them. At least if I was on the street, other people would be around and see me get into a car or something.”

    Not that craigslist cares. I think their mouthpiece has a macro button that just spits out the following…

    “Craigslist is a user-moderated site, and our users flag off ads that they feel are inappropriate for the craigslist community,” Susan MacTavish Best said in a statement. “Users are really speedy about flagging off problematic ads, and we’ve found that to be the most efficient and fastest way to get such ads off the site.”

    And again, I say that your normal craigslist users who use it as a citywide garage sale aren’t going into the erotic services section. And the people who are sure as hell aren’t going to flag any ads.

  • Sobering stats

    Sobering stats

    Crackdown on S.J. prostitution turns to the Web:

    This article from a Northern California newspaper has some pretty sobering statistics about craigslist prostitution.

    Determining just how many prostitutes are operating on the Web is tricky. The erotic services section of Craigslist’s Stockton-area section has had nearly 5,115 posts since Aug. 13, many of them duplicates. Some have been posted by those who offer services for free.

    For reference, there were 998 posts for furniture for sale by owner in that period.

    The trend locally mirrors what’s happening in the nation’s largest cities. Craigslist erotic services postings totaled 97,243 in New York, 27,174 for Los Angeles and 7,435 for Chicago in a similar timeframe.

    craigslist’s resident mouthpiece had the usual to say.

    Craigslist relies on its users to report posts that are deemed inappropriate, wrote Susan MacTavish Best, a spokeswoman for the Web site, in an e-mail response to questions.

    The Web site’s staff is not legally obligated to monitor the millions of posts it receives each month, but it does remove prohibited content – anything unlawful or pornographic, according to MacTavish Best.

    Police occasionally come knocking about posts.

    “We are contacted by law enforcement from time to time,” MacTavish Best wrote, “and Craigslist cooperates fully with the police and other authorities.”

    Yet, they keep their erotic services section up and running and continue to facilitate in all forms of prostitution and possibly human trafficking.

  • A politician finally notices craigslist

    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 of 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.