Craigslist Comes Clean: No More 'Adult Services,' Ever

Many advocates of Web freedom were convinced that Craigslist hadn’t really surrendered. They were certain that the website only appeared to have thrown in the towel last week in its long-running legal battle over the ads that appeared on its pages under the heading “adult services.” After all, the company had put up a hard, years-long defense, and its first step in its so-called defeat was to set up a banner with the word “CENSORED,” before even that was taken down. Surely there had to be another chapter in the contest between one of the most popular sites on the Web and a cadre of some 40 states attorneys general who had loudly demanded that Craigslist remove a category for ads that they said were nothing more than fronts for prostitution?But it turned out to be wishful thinking. On Wednesday, William Powell, director of law-enforcement relations for Craigslist, told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime that “as of Sept. 3, 2010, Craigslist has terminated its ‘adult services’ sec...