Seems like Internet censorship has been getting a lot of press lately, the Google/China issue attracting most of the media attention. Now the spotlight is on Craigslist, one of the largest classified ads sites on the Internet. The latest debate is over whether Craigslist should be more proactive in censoring those who post on it. The all began when some apartment listings appeared to be racially slanted. This and other events lead us to once again visit the questions, “Should the Internet be censored?”
Rob Sullivan does a nice write-up at Search Engine Journal on this very issue. A couple of excerpts:
“Free speech is one of the building blocks of any democratic society. Without free speech we, as citizens of the democratic society, would be subject to many forms of chastisement including personal attacks and even legal ramifications.
This is why I for one like the Internet. You see, to me the Internet is one of the last great representations of true free speech. We are allowed to post as we see fit whether it is a comment in a forum or a blog post which gets syndicated around the world.”
In the case of Craigslist, someone posted an ad for an apartment rental and explicitly asked that certain minorities not apply because, according to the person who posted the ad, these people “tend to clash with me so that won’t work out.” Craigslist now finds themselves the subject of a legal battle because of this.
Rob goes on to say, “Now, here’s the issue for me: Sure the guy’s post stated that there were certain races that he did not want to apply, but it’s not like he said “I hate you all!” Instead, he said that these people tended to clash with him. This isn’t necessarily a racist comment, he’s just stating his opinion based on his previous experience. In my mind, that doesn’t necessarily make him a racist. What really bugs me is that Craigslist is now being held accountable for this person’s post.”
Only time will tell where all this Internet censorship goes. The law is always playing catch-up to technology. So it still may take some time to define what gets censored on the Internet and what does not.
craigslist.org accepts but does not publish ads with online promotion” or “Internet advertising” words in the title. craigslist.org employs unfair censorship against those who work in the same field of online promotion and Internet advertising. It shows craigslist’s monopolistic approach to online promotion, Internet advertising, and competition. Try to post an add with “online promotion” or “Internet advertising” words in the title and you will not see it published among other ads.
Craigslist constantly “Flags” my ads for my book, Grain and Grit: Ingredients of the True American. Purely I suspect due to it’s Conservative tone. If you are a transvestite wanting a blow job, they are willing to take your ad with open arms. But put anything in about “God, Family and Country” they will find any way possible to “Flag” and get rid of you. Is this America? Or is this another Democrat Socialist society. Believe what we believe only, or we kill you?
I know from experience that their volunteer administrators will block a post which complies with their terms of use but is critical of local public officials. This is dishonest in that CL implies free and open speech while secretly filtering speech based solely on political content as judged, not by community standards, but by an individual. What country is this Craig? Are you keeping a list and reporting those of us who think we’re free to critique our government?
Apparently cragislist is choosing to arbitrarily censor some of its advertisers…
We own an operate a nightclub in Hollywood. Ads were placed on craigslist for staff. We asked for applicants to submit a resume, cover letter and photo. (The photo request is standard practice in the world of trendy nightclubs as we prefer to hire attractive people for the more visible jobs.)
A “customer support” person named “Aristotle” actually phoned us and was very upset that we asked for a photo. Apparently it PERSONALLY offended him that we would care about a person’s appearance. Our response was that we are no different than a casting agency, modeling agency, or other Hollywood job that relied on a person’s looks.
We were informed that our ads were being deleted immediately and to never advertise with their service again. When asked how our ad was in violation of any of there terms of use. The representative was not able to indicate anything in their terms of use prohibiting a photo request. We were told that it violated “his personal opinion” and that he was removing our ads.
Now craigslist contains ads for prostitution, casting for pornographic films, and dozens of other “questionable” categories. How is it appropriate that one customer service representative can choose to censor some innocent ads on a whim?
I sell rings online – A+ customer service with a fantastic product. Even with this, Craigslist deletes all my ads. Funny, they don’t mind if men are on there selling themselves to other married guys. They also dont’ seem to mind when people place their apartments for rent and only want ‘white’ people to show up. Want to buy some drugs, hell go to Craigslist…. you will find it. People get scammed all the time on there, but for a small business like me, doing good things, they censor and delete my ads. This is fu*&ed up. This is America with freedom of speech??
Give me a break.