Guy Sets Up The Rape of His Wife -- But It's Craigslist That Gets The Attention
from the blame-game dept
A North Carolina man has been arrested after allegedly arranging for his wife to be raped via Craigslist, a story that's sure to give more ammo to the "blame Craigslist" crowd. What's clear from the details is that, if the reported details of the crime are true, this guy is pretty evil: apparently he posted a couple of ads on the site "in an effort to arrange for someone to come to his home and have sex with his wife using some type of scare tactic." When police responded to a 911 call saying an armed man was sexually assaulting a woman in the house, the guy was present. While Craigslist gets the mention in the headline -- and will likely catch flak for it -- it's hard to believe that a person capable of such an act did it just because Craigslist was available. What doesn't get too much mention, though, is the usefulness of the Craigslist ads (again) have in investigating and prosecuting the guy.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: blame
Companies: craigslist
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Apparently nobody watches TV anymore...
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Re: Apparently nobody watches TV anymore...
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Yay...
I love how these idiots completely ignore the point to argue some completely irrelevant semantics BS *no-one* else gives two shits about.
What a tit....indeed.
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I know, stupid US Supreme Court...
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Obviously there are 50,000 predators watching TV.
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And that's what immediately came to mind for me, too.
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Should a corner store owner not care if gangs are selling drugs out of his store, or arranging murders there?
Hmm.
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Wrong
No, you got it wrong, it isn't Craigslist, it was Craig's list. You see, the husband's friend Greg needs direction in life, so the husband made out "To Do" lists for Greg. That days:
1. Pick up the dry cleaning
2. Grocery Shopping
3. Rape my wife
4. Clean the gutters (C'mon Greg, they're getting disgusting!)
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HitList.com
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And anyway, how many new jobs would that create?
Courtney
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Where should they get that?
Would you prefer they charge for postings? Charge membership fees? Set up a screening center in India?
*laughing*
Media is free publicity. CL is eating this up. This doesn't affect 99.999 percent of the people *using* CL, and won't.
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In the end, CL is claiming the same thing as YouTube and many others: If we had to check everything, we would go broke. In the words of Mike Masnick, perhaps they need a better business model.
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So, yes, indeed, they need a business model that involves NOT checking proposed listings. The problem is as laws go on the books that require classified ads to be reviewed for whatever the public crisis of the day is, checking will be required and as has been said is likely to put them in worse financial shape, if not out of business altogether.
The difference between this case and the music industry (for example) is that the regulations put into place on classified ad listing could damage the business model, while for the music industry, govt. intervention/regulation has been and continues to be sought in order to protect an existing business model. Very different issues.
Hence, your snide "perhaps they need a better business model" comment is rather misplaced. In this case, perhaps, there is no need for regulation?
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Child molestation is a real problem - the internet has made it possible for these people to connect and as a result, we see more activity today than ever before. The internet make it easier for them to be jerks.
CL is facilitating jerks. They shouldn't wash their hands of responsibility because they aren't the only ones dealing with them.
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"The best examples of that are the pissed of ex-husbands / boyfriends putting their girl's photo and phone number up on the "for a good time call" section."
Um... Perhaps the "girls" should be a little more careful? Their stupidity in allowing images of them to be taken in compromising situations should be *their* responsibility alone. CL is *not* in the business of covering for the idiocy of others.
"perhaps they need a better business model."
What's wrong with their business model? They offer a free service and make money. Sounds good to me. You (and Mike...and the "save the Children" crowd simply can't take responsibility for your own actions and seem to find pleasure in blaming everyone else...or begging the government to do it for you.
Got a better business model? Go for it. Make millions. Show them all how wrong they are. Until then, you're just pissing on everyone else's success.
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Again, if CL was more careful and more aware of who was posting, they might not run the ad to start with (girl's picture, but guy's credit card? Hmmm!). Plus the pictures could just a headshot or an innocent snap from a beach vacation, it doesn't have to be pornographic. Geez.
"What's wrong with their business model?"
Quite simply, like many of the other web 2.0 dealies, these guys aren't making enough income to properly monitor all of their business. Realistically, they should be aware of everything that is one their site, and in theory it should get at least a passing eyeball from a staff member. But they can't because they can't afford to do it - which is a failing of the business model. Newspapers process each classified ad before it is posted up. Slightly different business model, less likely to have a picture of someone's ex girlfriend apparently offering free sex to the first 5 guys to her house.
In the end, if CL was more dilligent, it's service would not have been used to set this up. Isn't that enough to show at least passing culpability?
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craigslist in general
Stuart
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Making money A to Z
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