Amid calls to curb ads for illegal sex, Craigslist CEO defends status quo

"I would not describe any section of our site as 'sex related,' " Buckmaster wrote in response to a series of e-mailed questions from the Globe.

He acknowledged that Craigslist offers an "erotic services" section that should not include more than "legitimate escort services, sensual massage, exotic dancers, etc.," but said that offers to exchange sexual favors for money are "strictly prohibited" and removed from the site.

As for visitors to Craigslist, Buckmaster said, more than half are there to find used furniture, apartments for rent, or other items for sale. Job listings get the most traffic per listing "by an enormous margin," he said, and the website's housing section is "extremely heavily used as well."

"Roughly one percent of ads posted on CL are in the 'erotic services' section," he wrote.

Yesterday afternoon, more than 150 ads were posted on Craigslist's erotic section in Boston, and many made openly sex-related offers. One South Shore woman headlined her ad "Sexy Busty and Ready to Play!" A Cambridge woman promised she would be "enticed the whole time" and another promoted "Naughty Hottie Afternoon Specials" in an "exhilarating, unrushed, intimate encounter." Some people posted hourly rates or naked photographs of themselves taken in a bathroom mirror.

Craigslist offers online services in hundreds of cities around the world, gearing listings specifically to each local audience. There is no official monitoring of the site other than peer reviewers who can flag posts for illegal or improper content. Craigslist is protected from liability for posting the ads for illegal activity under the 1996 Federal Communications Act, which gives companies like it (eBay offers similar listings) immunity for content they had no role in creating.

Last year, Blumenthal and attorneys general from 40 other states brokered a deal with Craigslist to begin requiring anyone posting an erotic ad to pay a $5 to $10 fee with a credit card, to enable law enforcement to trace the posting.

The ads found in the erotic section yesterday seem to contradict Craigslist's image as a homespun marketplace where people can generally post free advertisements to sell and trade goods, like a used dining room set or a bike.

Craig Newmark, the site's founder, still works at the company as a customer service representative and has been generally viewed as an Internet darling who helped democratize the online world. Newmark has remained silent about recent attacks that authorities say stemmed from Craigslist. When e-mailed by the Globe, he referred questions to his public relations firm, which forwarded questions to Buckmaster.

Craigslist has come under scrutiny since Boston police arrested Philip Markoff on Monday and charged him with killing a masseuse at the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel on April 14 and robbing a prostitute at the Westin Copley Place hotel on April 10. Police said he trolled Craigslist ads to find his victims. Markoff pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday.

Craigslist's Buckmaster, interviewed on CNN yesterday, said people at the company were horrified and saddened about the recent arrest in Boston and the idea that a killer could have used the website to look for victims.

"We're examining the ways the site is set up to see if there is some incremental change to make the site safer," he said.

"Whenever you have that amount of activity" on a site, Buckmaster added, "there is a possibility of things going wrong. That said, no incidence of violent crime is OK."

Complaints about the site and how it is used for criminal activity had been growing even before the arrest of Markoff. Organizations dedicated to combating child trafficking - selling children for sex - and prostitution, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, had contacted Craigslist with their concerns. The Polaris Project, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating child trafficking and enslavement, said it viewed Craigslist as one of the largest purveyors of such illegal activities worldwide.

Police efforts to stop illegal activity on Craigslist are "outweighed by the enabling environment," said Mark P. Lagon, executive director of the Polaris Project and a former ambassador to combat human trafficking for the US State Department.

"We follow people who have been victimized in sex trafficking, and one of the major platforms for sex traffickers these days is Craigslist," he said.

Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, held a press conference yesterday demanding that Craigslist take additional steps to control illegal activity on the site, including making it impossible for users to post images. He also asked Craigslist to hire additional staff to scan the site for ads that promote blatantly illegal activity.

He said he wants the company to impose a fine of $1,000 or more on users who post illegal ads. He said the charge could be billed to their credit card. Craigslist does not have a legal obligation to do it, he said, only a moral one.

"The Boston murder epitomizes the harm that emanates," he said. "Anyone who contends that these illegal activities are victimless or harmless because they involve consenting adults simply ignores the kind of horrific violence that can result."

Blumenthal said yesterday that he was surprised to hear Buckmaster deny that the site offers anything sex-related.

"The fact is, there are prostitution ads and some very flagrant and blatant pornography on that site. I have trouble believing they can say there are no sex-for-hire ads," he said.

Buckmaster said in an e-mail to the Globe yesterday that the credit card requirement resulted in a 90 percent decline in Craigslist's volume of erotic services ads.

Blumenthal agreed that the number of erotic ads had "diminished but were still prevalent in unacceptable numbers."

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.