Polls Show Netizens Oppose Craigslist's Censorship

At last count, 1989 people participated in the Mashable poll. Thirty-three of them voted Craigslist's Adult Services shouldn't be censored because prostitution shouldn't be illegal in the first place; 22 percent opposed censorship because they believed existing policies at the service were sufficient in dealing with prostitution; and 16 percent voted no "for another reason."

Of those supporting censorship, 19 percent felt it should be done because Craigslist is indirectly profiteering from prostitution. The service charges $10 for an ad in the section and $5 for a renewal. This year, it's estimated Craigslist will earn $44 million from the section, or a third of all its revenues. Another 10 percent endorsed censorship "for other reasons."

The brass at Craigslist have been mum on the shutdown since they stopped taking advertising for the section and replaced its links on landing pages throughout the United States with the word "censored" in white type on a black background. That graphic treatment makes the word very prominent on the relatively drab pages. It has also led to speculation that there's more behind the shutdown than a unilateral capitulation to the forces of morality.

Some quarters have argued that the shutdown is a high stakes public relations ploy by Craigslist to win support for reopening the section, which is alive and well under its old nomenclature "Erotic Services" on the company's sites outside the United States. Last year, in an action designed to blunt pressure to stop taking adult-oriented ads from a number of Attorneys General, Craigslist shuttered its Erotics Services category in the United States and replaced it with an Adults Services one.

Whatever Craigslist's motives for blocking access to Adult Services, the move may be more sizzle to steak because there are signs that the ads are moving into other areas of the network. On Sunday, ads alluding to cash exchanges for sexual services and seeking massage clients could be found in the Casual Encounters section of the service's websites, according to ABC News.