Craigslist Faces Criminal Probe in S.C. Over Erotic Ads

San Francisco - The South Carolina Attorney General has launched a criminal investigation into San Francisco-based Craigslist, alleging that the classifieds site failed to remove ads for prostitution and graphic pornography by a Friday deadline, according to published reports. After meetings with a group of state attorneys general last week, Craigslist took the drastic step of eliminating its "Erotic Services" section entirely, and said that it would manually monitor all ads placed in a new "Adult Services" section. Unsatisfied, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster gave the site his ultimatum. Replying in a blog post, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster demanded an apology from McMaster, also pointing out that many other web sites in South Carolina currently host a greater number of explicit ads than Craigslist. He also called the charges threatened by McMaster "unconstitutional and barred by federal law." "We're willing to accept our share of criticism, but wrongfully accusing Craigslist of criminal misconduct is simply beyond the pale," Buckmaster wrote in the blog post. "We would very much appreciate an apology at your very earliest convenience."
http://blog.craigslist.org/2009/05/target-practice/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10243187-93.html 
http://www.scattorneygeneral.org 
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/18/stand-firm-craig-and-jim/