Craigslust dropping off ?

From the NYT, comes news of interest to all Pornographers - Craigslist is limiting its red light letter section after pressure from 40 US State Attorneys:

In March, Craigslist began asking its erotic services advertisers to provide a phone number, which an automated system calls. The system reads a series of digits, which the advertiser types into a Web page as verification before the ad will appear on the site. Craigslist said that ended most of the illicit material.

Under the broader agreement announced Thursday, Craigslist is going further, asking that advertisers provide valid identification. It said that it will charge erotic services vendors a small fee for each ad — $5 to $10, Mr. Buckmaster said — and require that they use a credit card for the payment. This, theoretically, will let the company confirm users’ identities. It will donate the money to charities, including those that combat child exploitation and human trafficking.

Doing good by doing well

The interesting thing is that the State Attorneys are starting to take concerted action, and that Craigslist has started to look at authentication and then taking money from such advertisers. The implication is that this part (the online classifieds biz) of 'Net Media is moving out of its Wild West phase, and they can expect to see more of the added frictions and costs that becoming part of the mainstream media entails.