Craigslist accused of profiting from prostitution

Craigslist is again the centre of controversy

Craigslist has responded to accusations from the Rebecca Project for Human Rights that the classifieds site profits from prostitution.

The organisation took out an advert (PDF) detailing the lives of two former prostitutes, referred to as 'AK' and 'MC', who claim that the site was instrumental in their fate.

They ask Craigslist to shut down the Adult Services section of the site, which has already been described as a forum for prostitution and used in police stings to catch those who pay for sexual services.

"We've heard that the Adult Services section of Craigslist brings in $36m [£22m] a year. These profits are made at the expense of girls like us, who are lured, kidnapped and forced to feed the increasing demand for child rape," the advert reads.

"New traffickers are putting up ads every day, because they know it's less risky and more profitable to sell girls on Craigslist than to deal drugs."

Craigslist has responded to the advert, pointing out that is already taking steps to clamp down on illegal activity and has been working with law enforcement to track down criminals.

"If Craigslist was misused, we want to learn more so we can improve our preventative measures," said the company in a blog post.

"We work with law enforcement to bring to justice any criminals foolish enough to incriminate themselves by misusing our site, and want to make sure everything possible has been done in your cases."

Craigslist asked the two individuals or their representatives to get in touch, since the information provided in the advert had not been relayed to the company by the police.

Charles King, president and principal analyst at Pund-IT, suggested that there has always been an uneasy relationship between new media and the sketchier fringes of society.

"It is reasonable for the Rebecca Project to raise the issue around Craigslist and other classified sites, but with some reservations. I think attention has been focused on Craigslist as it is an obvious target, since so much illegal activity is invisible," he said.

"For years service providers' infrastructures have been used to host pornographic sites, but they are not being raked over the coals as Craigslist has been."