A look at how the industry is reacting to Craigslist working with law enforcement in its fight against escort services. Read the whole story at InternetNews.com…

Life After Craigslist for Online Sex Trade
By Kenneth Corbin

Craigslist made a splash last month when it announced a set of policy changes aimed at stamping out sex crimes facilitated through the Erotic Services section of its site. But sex workers and legal experts say the measures are likely to have scant impact on the shadowy world of online prostitution.

Following the initial report about the new policies, a reader who identified herself as a “working girl in San Francisco” told InternetNews.com that Craigslist is hardly the only game in town.

“Because of the new procedure on Craigslist, we are turning to other Web sites … to promote our services,” she wrote in an e-mail. “These sites are free and just as effective. I don’t believe that this change in Craigslist will do anything to affect the industry.”

The reader declined to be interviewed further for this report, but people on both sides of the war on prostitution agree that the multiplicity of adult-oriented sites on the Internet has made the policeman’s work considerably more complicated.

“It’s really just a function of today’s digital economy,” said Alex Southwell, an attorney with the law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and a former federal prosecutor. “The Internet’s ability to make illicit services available is really groundbreaking.”

“It’s a question of convenience,” Southwell told InternetNews.com. “It used to be for prostitution you would have to go to some shady corner of town at night. Now you can do it on the Internet.”

Some interesting analysis on Craigslist’s new found cooperation with law enforcement regarding the erotic services niche. Read the whole story at The Las Vegas Sun…

Hawking erotic services? Craigslist now has your number
By Abigail Goldman

Mahria is a “beautiful blonde” offering “erotic wrestling” for $100.

Dru is charging $80 for an hour of “sensual massage.”

Alicia can be at your door in half an hour.

These advertisements, which come with photos a family newspaper won’t print, are a small sample of what can be found in the “erotic services” section of Craigslist in Las Vegas — an online classified ads Web site that, aside from helping people find roommates or sell old lawn mowers, has become one of the most popular ways for Clark County escorts to peddle their wares to the electronic masses. It’s an Internet buffet of costly companionship, but perhaps not for long.

Just over two weeks ago, Craigslist began charging a fee to advertise on the site’s “erotic services” section. The fee is small — $5 — but the consequences are huge.

The fee must be paid with a credit card, and Craigslist will supply this credit card information to law enforcement officials, should they subpoena it. Erotic services advertisers must also provide a phone number, which an automated system will call before any posting is published online.

In short, Craigslist is working with the police.

Erotic services advertisements in the dozens of American cities Craigslist serves have fallen dramatically since Nov. 6, when the fee took effect, the company’s chief executive, Jim Buckmaster, told the Sun. On Monday in Las Vegas, that meant there were only 362 erotic services ads posted on Craigslist. The Monday before the traceable fees, there were more than 1,100 ads.