McMaster being sued by craigslist

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Craigslist's CEO is firing back at South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster in federal court.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote in his blog Wednesday morning that the company filed a lawsuit in federal court in South Carolina seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order after McMaster repeated threatened criminal charges against the website and its owners.

Buckmaster said in his blog that the charges were "an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, and are clearly barred by federal law."

"Interestingly, if you read Mr McMaster's ultimatum carefully, you'll note that the only way to definitively comply with it is to take down the craigslist sites for South Carolina in their entirety," the company's CEO wrote. "The open architecture of craigslist, quintessential to the value it provides for users, simply does not allow for the absolute prevention of solicitation or pornography, with respect to any of its categories and functions."

In a letter to Buckmaster earlier this month, McMaster demanded the site take down their sex ads or face possible charges.

"It is ugly, it is harmful, and there's no good reason on earth why that is being allowed," McMaster said.

McMaster told Craigslist it had until May 15 to take down parts of its site containing erotic and adult advertisements that allowed for prostitution and pornography. McMaster said the portions of the site were not removed, the company and its management could be subject to criminal prosecution.

When the May 15 deadline came and went, McMaster stated, "As of 5 p.m. [Friday] afternoon, the Craigslist South Carolina site continues to display advertisements for prostitution and graphic pornographic material. This content was not removed as we requested. We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution."

Earlier in the week, Craigslist pledged to eliminate its "erotic services" category and screen all submissions to a new "adult services" section before being posted.

On Monday, Buckmaster asked McMaster if he fully considered the ramifications of his campaign against prostitution ads and pornographic photos on the classified ads website.

On Saturday, Buckmaster said there are plenty of places in South Carolina other than his Web site to find prostitution ads and obscene photos. He says the 40 "adult services" ads on South Carolina's Craigslist sites comply with the company's terms of use.

McMaster says if a prostitution case comes up on the site, he could charge Craigslist executives with aiding and abetting prostitution.

Posted by Bryce Mursch