Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said Wednesday that Jim Buckmaster, CEO of the online classified ad service Craigslist, needs to do more to police erotic services ads.

Lynch said that if Buckmaster fails to do so, he will "risk facing continued pressure from his peers nationally."

The attorney general said that he acknowledges that Buckmaster's recent public statements indicate that he "understands the seriousness of the challenges it's facing to clean up its content."

Lynch's comments came days after his office filed an arrest warrant for Philip Markoff, 23, of Quincy, Mass., confirming a local link to the so-called "Craigslist killing" case which has attracted national attention.

Markoff is also accused of killing a masseuse in a Boston hotel last month.

Officials said that two days after Boston murder, the Boston University medical student walked into the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick with a gun and attempted to rob a Las Vegas exotic dancer.

Both alleged crimes were linked to the erotic services section of the Craigslist Web site.

Lynch, who is serving a one-year term as president of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), stopped short, however, of threatening to prosecute Craigslist, stating, "I am convinced that cooperation will bring better results, and more quickly, than confrontation."

He added: "In the same way that Craigslist needs to balance its profits with its responsibilities, we, as prosecutors, need to balance our powers and responsibilities. I'm not sure that a web site would be considered liable, or could be prosecuted, for content posted by its users. I think that building on the relationship and agreement we have already forged with Craigslist will help make the Internet safer, faster, than taking Craigslist and other web sites to court."

Lynch was referring to an agreement reached by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and 42 other states, including Rhode Island, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children last November. The Craigslist agreement followed similar pacts that attorneys general struck with MySpace and Facebook in 2008. In addition, Lynch headed a working group that led to a partnership between the Wireless Association and the National Center, also in November of 2008, which is aiming to keep child pornography off of wireless networks.

Lynch is hosting a meeting of 14 attorneys general in Philadelphia on Tuesday and Wednesday, a conference that will focus on Internet safety for children. He chose "The Year of the Child: Protecting and Empowering the Next Generation" as his NAAG presidential initiative during his term.

 Tags  murder RI Warwick

Comments

Jared Cipher said:

This is so ridiculous. Indoor prostition is LEGAL in Rhode Island. How can he criticize Craigslist for allowing the advertisement of legal business activity?

Link | May 6, 2009 6:04 PM
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JerryRI said:

Jared, you make a great point!

Link | May 7, 2009 9:17 AM
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Frankietwoshoes said:

This is putrid grandstanding and this man has been grandstanding for over 4 years. He'd make a great actor as an ADA on Law and Order.

Link | May 7, 2009 3:02 PM
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