Connecticut Police Use Craigslist To Fight Prostitution; As Their Attorney General Grandstands To Take Away That Tool
from the what-a-tool dept
We've been covering Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's totally misguided crusade against Craigslist on the topic of prostitution. For years, he's complained and threatened Craigslist because prostitutes use the service. Of course, he's never taken legal action because he must realize that there is no legal action he can take. The law is pretty clear: the liability is on the users of the service, not the makers of the service. Even so, Craigslist has repeatedly changed the way its service works to appease Blumenthal, and while he initially seems happy with those changes, months later, he's always back to complaining (just in time for elections too...).Of course, the point we've made all along in response to Blumenthal is that for smart law enforcement officials, Craigslist is an excellent tool for monitoring and cracking down on prostitution. In fact, it appears that some police in Connecticut are doing exactly that. Eric sends in the story of police in Naugatuck, Connecticut using Craigslist to crack down on prostitution in their city.
The police responded to a few ads that they believe were from prostitutes seeking money for sex, and arrested two women. Separately -- and a bit more questionably -- the police also put up an ad themselves, waiting for men to reply, and eventually arrested eighteen men who replied (including a city official). It's difficult to see how that latter part of the sting isn't entrapment, but they insist it's not. Either way, it does seem like a bit of a contradiction when the state's Attorney General is seeking to block Craigslist from dealing in such ads entirely while police in the state are using it as a tool against prostitution at the same time. Maybe they should talk to each other. But, of course, when Blumenthal's real purpose is not about stopping prostitution, but instead making sure he's re-elected, suddenly the seemingly contradictory actions make a lot more sense. Oh, and if Blumenthal is really looking to grandstand about Craigslist, why not complain about the fact that the guy who bought the Nissan Pathfinder used in the failed Times Square car bomb attack this weekend supposedly bought it via Craigslist. Surely, if Craigslist can be blamed for prostitution, now it can also be blamed for terrorism...
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Filed Under: connecticut, liability, prostitution, richard blumenthal, section 230
Companies: craigslist
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There! No you can cut and paste all future posts!
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Re: Re:
Blah, blah, the masnick blah. Yada yada yada [completely baseless assertion], and ickety ackety oop [severe misunderstanding of economics].
Now you have your template.
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Re:
Oh, nevermind, I think that was a hallucination.
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Terorrist?
"are perpetrated for an ideological goal"
Dont think we have seen any indication about the ideological goal of this, or any of the past attacks.
Yeah...lets leave the car running, flashers on, a toy "timer", and a bunch of other crap loaded in the car. This is the worst attempt at blowing something up. They must not have had Google. The mighty Al-CIA-da, which popped a bomb in the basement of the towers, supposedly with very little training, flew 2 planes into the towers, can now not even set off a simple bomb in a plane, or on a city street? Doesn't add up.
Here are your "inexperienced pilots":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiAAd-10sSM
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Re: Terorrist?
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Re: Re: Terorrist?
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Re: Terorrist?
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That drum will beat you back
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Re: That drum will beat you back
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It makes no sense...
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Kim Kommando (sp?)
She basically said that Craigslist was a evil capitalistic company that was making money off exploitation and if only they'd stop these erotic ads the birds would chirp again and the sun would shine. Obviously, not those exact words, but that is the feeling you walked away with.
The absolute lack of real research is just amazing. Every day I see more and more examples of how useless the press is for anything and how they twist facts to promote their viewpoints/end goals.
Of course no one touches the real issue with all this - If you can just take away your cult-like moral elitism that selling sex is bad, then you can read real research that shows the problem with prostitution is that it is illegal. If you truly want to protect the workers in this trade, the best way is to legalize it and then the whole CL issue goes away.
It is funny how when you are intellectually dishonest that the real world gives you problems that can't really be solved. Last I checked we've been fighting prostitution since forever and so far no one has solved the problem yet. Maybe someone would say, hey, the problem is trying to fight it in the first place?
As an aside, it really sucks being a fiscal conservative and social liberal. Where is my party? Frankly both parties are in it for nothing but control and power - just in different ways. Where is the party that believes in just government core services and no entitlements (cough) welfare? Love him or not, but Glenn Beck got it right in that right now we have no real choices - we got on the wrong tracks and are choices are false. America was formed on a libertarianism track and someone we forked and ended up in the mess we're in now.
Freedom
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Re: Kim Kommando (sp?)
Both sides are completely wacko and fiscal conservatives that don't want to expand government and want to dial it back have no where to go.
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It is no more entrapment than an undercover officer pretending to be a prostitute while standing on a corner
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which is also entrapment
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Educate yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment
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So, when the police put the ads up on craigslist, isn't that the equivalent of "initial overtures and statements"?
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The easiest way to describe it is this: An undercover cop is selling drugs on the street. If he comes up to you and asks you if you want to buy some weed and you buy some you are busted and it is not entrapment. The reason is that you would have bought the weed even if he wasn't a cop.
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What is "Prostition"
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Don't give them any ideas. Remember, "Today's satire is tomorrow's reality."
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I'm sure it's perfectly clear in your mind what you mean by a "we have already shown that" line, but for the rest of us, would you care to explain? And by "explain", I think you know I don't mean rote regurgitations like "typical masnick overreach", but an actual rational statement backed up by some supporting ideas.
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Entrapment... not.
Entrapment is when a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit an offense which the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.
The men arrested responded to the ad of their own violation.
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Re: Entrapment... not.
In this case, the men responded to the ad of their own volition, yes...after the police induced responses with an ad.
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Great writer
Hooked on phonics...
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State Senate
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Just a Thought
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prostitution is wrong!
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Re: prostitution is wrong!
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