Craigslist censors adult services listings

ATLANTA, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Craigslist blocked its "adult services" section in the United States after attorneys general in 17 states complained the Internet site promoted prostitution.

The "adult services" section was replaced by the word "censored" early Saturday with an inactive link for U.S. Internet users, CNN reported.

"The increasingly sharp public criticism of Craigslist's Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution -- including ads trafficking children -- are rampant on it," the attorneys general said in a letter to Craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster and its founder, Craig Newmark, early this week.

A Craigslist spokeswoman said it agreed with some points in the letter, but CNN said it had not received a response regarding the latest change to the Web site.

"We strongly support the attorneys general desire to end trafficking in children and women, through the Internet or by any other means," Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in response to the letter.

CNN said one of its reporters posted a fake ad in the adult services section in May and received 15 calls soliciting sex within three hours.

Investigators say the so-called "Craigslist killer," Philip Markoff, found his victim after she posted an ad on the site.

Markoff committed suicide in jail last month while awaiting trial in the April 2009 armed robbery and slaying of Julissa Brisman in a Boston hotel.