It's outrageous how far this has gone. A few weeks ago, I commented that referring to the murder of Julissa Brisman as the "Craiglist murder" was nothing short of a moral panic. I said it back then, and I'll say it again: Craigslist is the scapegoat here, not the cause. It's clear that the murder of an escort by a client he/she met on the street would receive exactly zero press coverage (which also says something about the value pop culture attaches to their life and the newsworthiness of that alternative narrative).
But we get so scared at the big, bad boogeyman called the Internet. It's destroying our children! It's singlehandedly adulterating our precious, pure culture! As if! It's a convenient sideshow to let legislators do what they do best: Stir up a sex panic that distracts from the real news. It's pure technological moral panic backed by exactly zero empirical evidence. It's ridiculous that this kind of ignorant mob mentality has forced Craigslist's hand on this matter, moving them to shutter their "Erotic Services" bulletin board.
From the Boston Globe:
Craigslist, after weeks of mounting pressure from law enforcement officers nationwide, said yesterday it eliminated its erotic services section and promised to manually review every ad posted to a new adult services section it has created.
The manual screening - the first in the website's history - comes after Boston University medical student Philip Markoff was charged with the April killing of masseuse Julissa Brisman. Police said Markoff met Brisman through the erotic services section on Craigslist. Markoff has pleaded not guilty to charges that include armed robbery and murder.
As of Tuesday night, Craigslist stopped accepting erotic services listings for US cities, and all remaining ads will expire within seven days. The new adult section bans ads suggesting or implying an exchange of sexual favors for money, and nude pornographic images or images suggestive of an offer of sexual favors are also prohibited.
If anything, the move to online organizing for escorts has made the business SAFER - not more dangerous. The murder of one escort linked to Craigslist is not sufficient evidence to warrant its closure.
So how long before the new free bulletin board service for escorts arrives? Oh right. There are already dozens of alternatives. All we have to do is wait to see which one takes over in Craigslist's absence.
