I haven't said a lot about the ongoing battle between Craigslist and certain overly-aggressive politicians, but after reading his most recent blog post, An Apology Is In Order, I have to say that I'm really proud of Jim. Having a CEO standing up to politicians and media for what he believes is right and true really reaffirms my decision to join Craigslist last year. Better yet, he's outdone most of the media by, *gasp*, actually linking to relevant information in his post.
Many prominent companies, including AT&T, Microsoft, and Village Voice Media, not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses feature more “adult services” ads than does craigslist, some of a very graphic nature. For a small sampling, look (careful NSFW) here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here.
Have you fully considered the implications of your accusations against craigslist? What’s a crime for craigslist is clearly a crime for any company. Are you really prepared to condemn the executives of each of the mainstream companies linked above, and all the others that feature such ads, as criminals? craigslist may not matter in your world view, despite our popularity among your constituents, but mightn’t you want an endorsement from any of the SC newspapers for your gubenatorial campaign, whose publishers you’ve just labeled as criminals? Do you really intend to launch a criminal investigation against the phone company? What about potential new jobs connected to big data center buildouts in SC by Internet companies? Are you *sure* you want prosecute all of their CEOs as criminals???
Keep it up, Jim.
Posted by jzawodn at May 18, 2009 09:28 AM
I don't usually do that silly "+1" thing, but...
+1000.
Way to fight back against ignorant pols.
Please keep us posted with issue! I found it laughable myself when I read about this a week or so ago.
It must be nice to work with competent people. I mean that in the most sincere way.
I think I could speak on the behalf of all the Dilberts in the world that it is very difficult and infuriating to deal with people like Henry McMaster.
Jeremey, local law enforcement should go after Craigslist for prostitution if it is illegal in the area. I think a more pressing issue is counterfeit software/ Do a craigslist or ebay search for photoshop and see how many $50 "backup" versions you can find. None of it is genuine.
I recently lost $605 trying to buy a real copy of photoshop on Craigslist (in retrospect maybe it was a bad idea). I figured some people might be trying to unload copies due to the bad economy. This particular post, however, made quite strong claims as to the legitimacy of the product.
The post stated that they were new retail copies left over when a small company went out of business. I spoke to the poster over the phone and he assured me it was a legitimate copy with an unused legitimate license. I sent payment via paypal and received a hacked copy of CS4 master collection on DVD. Paypal ruled against me despite this. I can even show proof that two weeks before he was looking for images of the software on a message board (the idiot posted his email address in the thread).
I still don't have a version of photoshop I can use, Paypal has its fees, and the pirate ended up with my money. Apparently I can't even dispute it because my default payment is an ACH from my bank account and not my debit or credit card.
This happened recently and I can't get anyone in Paypal customer service to comprehend that sending a pirated copy of something is illegal and shouldn't be tolerated.
I have contacted the appropriate organizations, attorney generals, etc, but I think a post on your blog might be a better to get the attention of someone who can actually help me. You seem to have a bit of pull around there.
Robert,
Sorry to hear about that experience. While I'm surprised that anybody would think they can get a legit copy of Photoshop for $50.
There's a reason we have warnings all over the site that tell you deal with people in person. When you forgo that, a lot of human decency seems to go out the window. :-(
I'm surprised that PayPal has been so useless (though not TOO surprised).
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