End the Craigslist crusade
In defense of Craigslist’s erotic services adsBy Joshua Errett
Next thing you know, the Ontario government will want to ban sidewalks because that’s where prostitutes work.
That modest proposal is a lot like shutting Craigslist’s adult services section, which the province is presently demanding. Craigslist is merely a portal, a platform in which to advertise. It is essentially a sidewalk.
The revolutionary San Francisco classifieds site finds itself in the crosshairs of a number of populist politicians across North America for its prostitution-?related advertising.
Ontario cabinet minister Laurel Broten, along with a chorus of her more reactionary colleagues, want the site to censor its sex ads. Not only is this the epitome of hopeless nannying, but this seemingly perfunctory gesture could throw all aspects of prostitution – including the policing of it – into disarray for years to come.
Craigslist has been functioning in Ontario since it landed in Toronto in April 2003, but only now are MPPs making hay about the sex services being shopped on it. ........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/webjam.cfm?content=177358