Category: News

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News

George Weber

Our hearts go out to the family, friends, coworkers and many fans of George Weber. We are horrified and deeply saddened that craigslist may have been associated with a violent crime. We will of course provide law enforcement investigators with any assistance they require in pursuing their investigation.

We take many steps to prevent criminal misuse of craigslist and, in particular, to protect the safety of users. These measures include encouraging users, when meeting someone for the first time, to insist on meeting in a public place, to tell a friend or family member where they’ll be, to take along a cell phone, and to consider taking a friend with them.

While violent crime is exceedingly rare on craigslist, with only a handful of cases known out of billions of face-to-face human interactions facilitated through the site, sadly, there is a risk whenever meeting a stranger for the first time.

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News

Justice Served

We again extend our heartfelt condolences to the Olson family, and are thankful that justice has been served in the courtroom, so that the focus for all those who cared for Katherine can now rightfully return to the celebration of her life, and the inspirational example that she (and her entire family) have set for us all.

A memorial concert in Katherine’s honor entitled A Tribute to Katherine: Letting Her Light Shine, which is happening on May 3rd in Minneapolis, will raise money for a scholarship fund in her name at St. Olaf College. More details are available here:

http://www.concertforkatherine.com/

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News

Business Plan Seeking Teleportation Scientist

From the “neither here nor there” department:

We are a small group of very well qualified businessmen who have a complete business plan that aims to yield investors, and partners, 1,000% returns within only a five year period. We have all the pieces in place, including CEO, marketing, and finance management. The only missing piece is YOU!

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/nor/1040248146.html

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News

Barter Economy

As we’ve seen during down economies in the past, growth in usage of the “barter” section of craigslist is accelerating, up more than 100% in the last year alone:

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Community News Services

Tragedy Strikes in Boston

Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Julissa Brisman. We are horrified and deeply saddened that our community services have been associated in any way whatsoever with a crime of violence.

We will of course do everything in our power to assist law enforcement in apprehending the perpetrator as soon as possible.

Given the crime rate in society at large, it is remarkable how exceedingly few crimes have any connection with the 50 million Americans using craigslist each month. This reflects the good intentions of virtually all craigslist users, the effectiveness of staff efforts to prevent crime from reaching the site, and perhaps realization among criminals that using craigslist in connection with a crime is a virtual guarantee that they will be caught. Any misuse of craigslist for crime is unacceptable however, and we will not rest until it is eliminated.

Sadly, just as in society as a whole, terrible tragedies are possible despite everyone’s best efforts. We are evaluating this incident closely to see if there are any additional things craigslist could be doing to further improve safety for our users and the general public.

While incidence of violent crime on craigslist is vanishingly low, the risk is not zero, and it behooves us all to take common sense precautions online as we do offline. Personal safety tips for community members are prominently posted throughout the craigslist website and include the following recommendations from safety experts;

  • Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe
  • Tell a friend or family member where you’re going
  • Take your cell phone along if you have one
  • Consider having a friend accompany you
  • Trust your instincts, and report any suspicious activity to authorities
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News

Boston suspect apprehended

We were relieved to learn that the person alleged to have committed these crimes has been arrested, and we will continue to provide law  enforcement agencies with any assistance they may require for prosecution of this case.

We were grateful to hear that the Boston Police Department was very pleased with the citizen response to this investigation, including the number of leads they got, which they attributed to the popularity of craigslist.

Despite this arrest, we urge craigslist users to continue to exercise the same common sense precautions online as they would offline, for example always choose a public place with other people around when meeting someone for the first time.

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News Services

Response to CT AG Letter

We very much appreciate this new input from Attorney General Blumenthal, and look forward to a continuing collaboration with his office, the other Attorneys General, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). We agree that there is more work to be done, not just by craigslist but by all Internet-based services, working cooperatively with law enforcement officials, to eliminate illegitimate activity to the greatest extent possible.  craigslist is fully engaged in pursuing this goal, and has several initiatives underway that speak to the concerns expressed in Mr. Blumenthal’s letter, concerns which we also share. craigslist intends to play an ever larger leadership role with respect to Internet safety and security, and we invite and appreciate any and all input from Attorneys General, from NCMEC, from law enforcement agents, and from non-profit organizations.  We will have more to say on this subject in the days and weeks ahead.

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News Services

Craiglist makes the prostitution easier?

Catherine is a 35 year old prostitute who lives and works in San Francisco and is based on the famous site of ads to avoid, or minimize the problems of violence and the risks that are common in his profession.

“Craigslist is important to help prevent violence,” said the woman, who is also of European origin, and continues, “Craigslist is a way to filter people, and allow us to avoid those that can make trouble, and not with Craigslist there is no need for pimps. ”
And how many women in her position say, you are safe in saying “Craigslist is vital! ”

And this is why the Sheriff of Cook County, Chicago, Tom Dart, in an interview with Cnet News, accusing the popular web service to be a major source of customers for prostitution in the United States. In addition, in the same interview, Dart reveals that often, in the sexual services offered by advertisers to Craigslist, involving minors and people forced into prostitution against their will.

In the complaint filed by the Dart, Craigslist is presented as a powerful marketing tool for pimps and prostitutes, which makes it much easier for criminals to escape the police.But Dart’s work has focused not on those people who have chosen prostitution as a source of income at the individual level, and therefore conscious, but that area exploited by organized crime as a source of income and the involvement of minors. As for children, showed the same sheriff, that the ads in that regard it up more or less like this: “Do you want a young girl? We have a young girl, all you have to do is pay a little more .. ”

Continue reading “Craiglist makes the prostitution easier?”
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News

Craigslist will regulate erotic ads

Craigslist, the popular classifieds site on the Internet, has reached agreement with 40 U.S. states to record the data of people who hang erotic ads on the site, judicial sources reported.

The site was in the spotlight since last March the state attorney general of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, to accept a complaint about the ads for prostitutes, often with explicit pictures, hourly rates and details of services being offered.

Craiglist is a platform that receives classified ads worldwide and is especially popular for the exchange of objects between second-hand users. Most of the ads that are posted on this site are free, except in categories such as housing and employment, which have used prostitutes to save the cost of newspapers and other media.

Continue reading “Craigslist will regulate erotic ads”
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News

Robbing is a problem in Craigs list

For five years, David Zoller bought and sold items on the website Craigslist without any problem.

For that reason, the resident of North Dallas is not suspected when he saw the advertisement for sale of a wide screen TV of about 2100 U.S. dollars for just 1000. Zoller contacted the advertiser and agreed to meet him at his home in Garland. The subject told him he had finished with his girlfriend and had to get out of that house in 2200 of West Kingsley Road.

“I said ‘do not be alarmed if you see that the house is empty,'” said Zoller, who visited his home on July 17 along with his colleague Guy Grivas.

“There was nothing out of the ordinary,” recalled Zoller, a real estate agent.

Continue reading “Robbing is a problem in Craigs list”