Ill. attorney general: Craigslist moves to clean up erotic ads(information from missing and exploited children experts)

Online classified ad service Craigslist reached an agreement with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, 42 other attorneys general, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to crack down on inappropriate content and illegal activity in its erotic services section.

Craigslist will require that posters of erotic services ads provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card. The site will provide the resulting information in response to law enforcement subpoenas. Craigslist agreed to donate the proceeds from erotic services ads to charity.

“In the last week alone, our investigators identified over 9,000 Illinois postings for erotic services and prostitution on Craigslist,” Madigan said in a statement. “This agreement is intended to be a first step to make sure that craigslist begins to address the prostitution and exploitation of women that occurs online.”

Craigslist also agreed to:


Attach “tags” to the erotic services section that assist parental screening software;
Employ “digital tagging” to identify and eliminate inappropriate content so that users can flag ads that violate Craigslist’s terms of service, which include prohibitions on pornography and criminal activity;
Deploy search technology to assist NCMEC and law enforcement agencies in identifying missing persons, children and victims of human trafficking; and
Explore technology to block inappropriate image uploads and better filters for code words and euphemisms for illegal activity.

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/11/03/daily50.html

Identification Events Free To The Public


By Aimee Cregger





SHENANDOAH COUNTY – Fingerprints, an up-to-date photo, a DNA swab. These may sound like things used to find a criminal, but they could also save a child’s life. Shenandoah County Public Schools along with the Sheriff’s Department and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are sponsoring three Child I.D. events in the County to prevent tragedies.

According to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 797,500 children (under the age of 18) were reported missing in a one year period.

Three public Child I.D. events will be held in the County: Nov. 10 at Ashby Lee Elementary, Nov. 11 at W.W. Robinson Elementary, and Nov. 12 at Sandy Hook Elementary. “All events will be from 6 to 8 p.m., but we will not leave until every child has been accounted for,” said Tracy Landes, executive secretary to the County Superintendent.

The events will be free to the public and available for any child from 0 to 18 years old. “Children, no matter the color of their skin or where they’re from, are important,” Landes expressed.

Brochures and information will be available to teach children what to do if they were to be abducted. “Sometimes kids respect authority so much, they don’t understand that they should kick and scream to get free,” noted Landes. Information will be in English and Spanish with interpreters on site if needed. “We’re really trying to reach out to the immigrant community,” she said.

An identification kit, including space for a photo and fingerprints, will be given to each child. “The Center for Missing and Exploited Children donated 5,000 kits free for us to use,” Landes expressed.

Fingerprints will be done by members of the Sheriff’s Department, while basic information can be filled out by parents at the event or at home. “A professional photographer will be taking photos to place in the kit, and Wal-Mart has agreed to print them free of charge,” explained Landes.

“While facilitating fingerprinting, we will also be handing out DNA swab kits and instructing parents how to use them at home,” said Mitch Vernazza, crime prevention officer for the County. “Because of time and contamination issues, we will not be performing the swabs at the event.”

DNA swabs are not part of the basic kit, but something the Sheriff’s Office is contributing to the event.

“By contracting with various medical companies, we were able to get enough kits to hand out at the events,” Vernazza stated. “The swab process takes 20 minutes and lasts up to 7 years.”

Volunteers from local Ruritan clubs, along with the Sheriff’s Department, and Public School system will aid the process, but will not hold any child’s information. “We will not keep any fingerprints or information on file,” Vernazza noted. “Everything is for parents to take home and keep in a safe place in case of an emergency.”

“We hate to think about it, but it is a lot harder to search for a photo of a child when you are frantically worrying about them.”

Contact Aimee Cregger at 459-4078, or e-mail her at aimee.svh@gmail.com.

http://www.dnronline.com/svh_details.php?AID=33034&CHID=43

Craigslist to Curb Illegal Sex Ads in State Agreement (Update3)

By Karen Freifeld

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Craigslist Inc., the online classified-advertising company, agreed with 40 states to increase requirements for advertisers in its ``erotic services'' category to help block offers of illegal sexual services.

Craigslist will require those who post ads in the ``erotic services'' category to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a credit card, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today in a statement. He negotiated with the company on behalf of other state attorneys general.

Blumenthal, the state's top law enforcement officer, sent San Francisco-based Craigslist a letter in March, alleging the company was allowing users to post ads for prostitution in violation of its own rules banning illegal and inappropriate content. The phone and credit-card information will be provided to law enforcement in response to subpoenas, Blumenthal said.

``Requiring phone numbers, credit cards and identifying details will provide a road map to prostitutes and sex traffickers -- so we can track them down and lock them up,'' Blumenthal said. ``Prostitutes will hopefully stop using Craigslist to break the law, knowing that their posts could lead to arrest and conviction.''

Craigslist agreed to sue 14 software and Internet companies that help those who post ads get around the site's defenses against inappropriate content and illegal activity, Blumenthal said. The site also will use better filters and blocking systems to screen ads, he said.

`New Safeguards'

``Craigslist has a long record of implementing measures to prevent misuse of its Web site, assisting law enforcement investigations and improving safety for Craigslist users,'' according to a joint statement by company president Jim Buckmaster, attorneys general, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization which also joined in the agreement.

``This problem requires new safeguards for Craigslist and new ways of working together with law enforcement,'' according to the statement.

The accord calls for Craigslist to use search technology it developed to help the center and law enforcement identify missing persons, children and victims of human trafficking.

Craigslist has implemented a self-policing program that allows users to ``flag'' objectionable postings, according to the agreement. The company also digitally tags adult sections of its site to help parents who use screening software.

Charitable Donations

All net revenue from the ``erotic services'' advertisements will go to charity, according to the statement.

Susan MacTavish Best, a Craigslist spokeswoman, didn't immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment

The Web site is visited by more than 40 million Americans each month, according to the joint statement. The company, which has a staff of less than 30, hasn't exercised editorial control over its content, according to court papers.

``This agreement is intended to be a first step to make sure that Craigslist begins to address the prostitution and exploitation of women that occurs online,'' Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago said in a previous decision that Craigslist wasn't liable for the posting of discriminatory ads for the sale or rental of apartments and houses. The court said the company was more akin to a telephone carrier or package delivery service than a newspaper.

In addition to the 40 states, the agreement includes the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

Facebook Inc. and News Corp.-unit MySpace, both social networking Web sites, earlier this year signed multistate agreements to adopt online safety standards to better protect children online. The firms had come under attack by regulators for not doing enough to police their sites and shield minors.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Freifeld in New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan at kfreifeld@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 6, 2008 15:02 EST

http://www.cnewmark.com/2009/03/success-from-craigslist-partnership-with-national-center-for-missing-and-exploited-children-.html

Success from craigslist partnership with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
At the craigslist blog Jim does a good job showing how our partnership with NCMEC - the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has worked:
The early results from the collaborative joint effort announced last November between craigslist, 40 US state Attorneys General, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) have been spectacular, and we have been remiss in not saying more about them.

Our collaboration with the state Attorneys General and NCMEC has only just begun, and there will be more progress and good works to announce in the months and years to come.