YNOT – Facing increasing pressure from law enforcement agencies, state attorneys general and most recently Congress, online classified advertising service Craigslist on Wednesday said it has shuttered its controversial “adult services” section for good in the U.S.The move represents the end of an era for a bare-bones website network that since 1995 has offered uncensored, free advertising for individuals selling everything from collectibles to automobiles. While the San Francisco-based company yielded to threats of legal action if it continued to allow individuals to post ads thinly veiling offers of illegal sexual services, Craigslist officials hinted that internet users would be wise to consider the move a portent of greater governmental regulation of free speech online.

A Craigslist spokesman also warned that banning “adult services” ads from Craigslist would have no effect on global sex trafficking beyond forcing sex workers to find other venues through which to peddle their wares.

For the past two years, Craigslist has been at the center of a tug-of-war between rival ideologies. On one side stood socially conservative advocacy groups who claimed the company’s websites shielded criminals involved in the sexual enslavement and abuse of women and children; on the other, free-speech and open-internet advocates who raised Craigslist to iconic status.

The battle culminated on Wednesday with a hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee. During the proceedings, Craigslist officials agreed to close the “adult services” section in the U.S., but declined to address calls to shutter the section on websites the company operates in other countries.

Conservative groups and state law enforcement agencies applauded the partial victory, saying similar smaller sites should be pressured to follow Craigslist’s lead.

“Websites escape liability when an ad on their site results in rape, prostitution and even death,” Rep. Jackie Speier [D-Calif.] said during the proceedings. “Our priorities are out of balance, and [sexual predators] are taking advantage.”

According to Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 100,000 minor girls and boys become prostitutes annually.

“Internet services have made it possible to pimp these kids, offering them to prospective customers with little or no risk,” he said in testimony before the congressional committee.

With little or no risk perhaps, but not without cost. Last year Craigslist began charging for ads in the adult services section, acting on demands from law enforcement and state attorneys general who wanted personal information about the advertisers. By requiring credit card payments for the ads, Craigslist satisfied age-verification suggestions and collected at least a minimal amount of personal data, which it handed over to law enforcement when criminal activity was suspected.

The adult-services charges proved to be a boon for the company’s coffers. According to a report by Advanced Interactive Media Group, Craigslist made about $30 million from the ads during the first half of 2010.