Posts Tagged ‘connecticut’

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced an investigation into recent changes made by Craigslist to its erotic services section.  Following a murder and assault in Boston committed by a perpetrator looking for victims in the erotic services section, Craigslist, an online classified ad website, vowed to eliminate its erotic services section, and open an “adult services” section that would be closely monitored for pornography and potentially dangerous behavior.

Blumenthal, who had previously led a multistate effort with the assistance of 39 other states to deter prostitution ads on Craigslist, vowed continued vigilance over adult listings.  “We will be monitoring closely to make sure that this measure is more than a name change from erotic to adult and that the manual blocking is tough and effective to scrub prostitution and pornography. Our continuing investigation will assure that these steps are substance, not just spin, and that Craigslist really shuts down its open online red light district,” Blumenthal said.

In response to the initial multistate investigation in 2008, Craigslist vowed to assist the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to identify missing persons and block inappropriate image uploads.  Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming joined Connecticut in the initial coalition to reform Craigslist.  However, following the Boston killing, Blumenthal pressured the website further, believing that Craigslist’s lax monitoring could have contributed to the killing.

Phillip Markoff, a Boston University medical student, is currently being held without bail while awaiting trial for the murder of Julissa Brisman, a masseuse from New York City who advertised on the site.  It is alleged that Markoff found Brisman on Craigslist, shot and robbed her, and kept her personal belongings as souvenirs.