CYBERSPACE —Vice squads everywhere have turned to Craigslist.org as a new source of leads on where prostitutes are doing business in their cities. The New York Times recently did a feature on how the frequency of these busts is going up.In the Chicago area in July alone, cops busted 60 women who had ads offering their sexual services on Craigslist. In November of last year in Seattle, cops busted 71 men with a fake ad promising a cash for sex exchange. In Nassau County, NY, cops have made over 70 prostitution-related arrests since using the site as a tool to capture hookers and their customers. In Jacksonville, FL, police captured 33 men in three days with a fake Craigslist ad.

First Amendment attorney Lawrence Walters told YNOT of the busts, “The enforcement action against Craigslist creates a potential chilling effect on protected speech, and on the consumption of that speech. In other words, advertisers of legitimate escort services will be more afraid to post ads, and consumers will be more hesitant to respond to those ads, as a result of these stings. That impacts commercial speech, which is protected by the First Amendment. Obviously, prostitution is not legal, but the vast majority of the ads on Craigslist.com are.”

While the police say that the website enables prostitution, the site’s representatives deny that charge, with Craigslist president Jim Buckmaster saying simply, “We do not want illegal activity on the site.” Craigslist is exempt from liability from the lawbreaking ads courtesy of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects site owners from the postings of their users.

Asked about possible concerns that webmasters may have in the wake of these growing busts, Walters commented, “The courts have consistently upheld the immunities provided to service providers under the CDA. However, it’s important to note that the CDA relates only to civil claims, not to criminal exposure. But the underlying policy concerns are the same.”

Police described to the Times how Craigslist has created a new, tech-savvy culture of traveling hookers who set up in a city and stay until their Craigslist ad stops getting hits before moving on to the next town and evading law enforcement.

Asked about the idea of the “new” internet hooker-buying culture, Walters remarked, “Prostitution has occurred since man discovered woman. Sites like craigslist.com mere facilitate communication. But people can find prostitutes if they’re looking for that service. However, both the prostitute and the customer may be safer using the internet, as opposed to walking the streets. A variety of tools exist to investigate the safety of both parties before the meeting actually occurs.”