Classifieds website Craigslist.org has added 140 new cities to their network.  This is a 25% increase from before.  The total number of cities on Craigslist is now 690.  About 87 cities have been added in the U.S., 8 in Canada, and 45 outside of North America.

Some of the added cities in the U.S. include Susanville, California, Oneonta, New York, and Walton, Florida.  Some of the international cities that have been added include Lucknow, India, Shenzhen, china, and Newcastle, Australia.

Generally the newspapers of the cities that Craigslist adds to their list struggles to compete.  Craigslist offers free classifieds for most cities abroad and domestic.  Newspapers charge for classifieds most people would turn to Craigslist instead.

Judd Apatow’s newest movie Funny People takes a few swipes at making fun of celebrities such as Megan Fox and Jon Favreau.  But in an unexpected move, Funny People also target Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson.

A question that was asked in the movie was who would win a fight between Newmark and Anderson.  Nobody could answer the question in the movie, but Newmark himself responded.  “We’d fight like nerds to the embarrassment of all,” quipped Newmark.

Funny People made $22 million in the opening weekend.  The movie stars Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana, and Jason Schwartzman.  Last month, Jonah Hill discussed a fake Twitter account using his name on Letterman.

Classifieds website giant Craigslist is being sued by a Texas-based real estate company for trademark infringement.  The Texas real estate company First Call reported that AAA Apartment Locating started to post ads on Craigslist using keywords such as “first call,” “call first,” and “call us first.”

First Call believes that AAA is using these phrases to confuse customers so they have taken both AAA and Craigslist to court.  First Call believes Craigslist has responsibility to remove the ads because they are aware of the trademark infringement.  In Texas, Craigslist does not charge for classifieds which will make the case even more interesting.

The court case was filed in Nueces County this past May but is now being transferred to federal court in the southern district of Texas.

[via MediaPost]

“Weird Al” Yankovic has created a new song called Craigslist. Yankovic imitates Jim Morrison of The Doors throughout the song and he dresses in leather pants and a white shirt in the video. Ray Manzarek of The Doors even helped putting the song together and is playing the keyboard in the background.

Yankovic plans to release this song out of a five song digital download package later this summer. The digital EP is called Internet Leaks. Lyrics are available after the jump just in case you want to sing along with the video.

(more…)

Classified advertising company Craigslist is expected to hit $100 million in revenue later this year according to a study by the Classified Intelligence Report made by the AIM Group.  The AIM Group counted the number of paid ads on the website and determined the projections based on the rates.  The projections were conservative too.

“We are a privately held company and never comment on guesses of our revenue. Nor have we ever commented on any number bandied around in the past,” stated Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best.  The AIM Group did not estimate the profits, but it is believed to be quite substantial.  Craigslist just has 30 employees.

Craigslist makes a majority of their revenues from charging for classified ads in 18 major cities.  The classifieds ads in the other 570 cities are free. In New York, Craigslist charges real estate brokers $10 per listing.  Erotic service listings also have a cost too.

[via NYT]

Last month Philip Markoff, also known as the “Craigslist killer” was charged for using the classifieds website to lure erotic masseurs and then either robbed them or murdered them.  In March 2009, Craigslist said that erotic ads were down 90-95% in 12 months after the Cook County sheriff decided to sue the classifieds website.  And last November Craigslist tried to eradicate the erotic advertisements by actually charging prostitutes to place ads on their website.  Rather than trying to discourage people from posting within the erotic services section, they have gotten rid of it altogether.

Basically, they have just gotten rid of the use of the word “erotic” in the classifieds websites.  Going forward, similar services will be appearing in an adult section which will be closely monitored by Craigslist staff.  Posting in the adult section will cost $10 and $5 for reposting.

“Community moderation as exemplified by our flagging system is arguably the most successful system ever conceived for eliminating inappropriate activity from a massive internet community. Working in tandem with various other protective technologies, it is an inescapable force to be reckoned with for anyone set on abusing free internet communications across a broad array of posting types,” wrote Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster.

Philip Markoff, known as the “Craigslist Killer” will be facing additional charges for an incident that occurred in Rhode Island.  Markoff, a medical student in Boston University was charged yesterday for pulling a gun on a stripper at a hotel in Rhode Island.  Markoff is being accused of assault and weapons violations.  Earlier it was beleived to be a robbert attempt at the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, Rhode Island.

A stripper from Las Vegas said that she was bound with a cord and held at gunpoint from a man that she had been talking through on Craigslist.  The stripper said that the man fled when her husband came to the hotel room.  Attorney General Patrick Lynch strongly believes it was Markoff.

“It was Philip Markoff,” stated Lynch. “He will be brought to justice.”  Markoff’s fingerprints were found at the hotel room.  But Markoff was denying the charges filed against him.

Police arrested Markoff on April 20 when he driving with his fiancee to Fowoods Resort Casino in COnnecticut.  Markoff is being charged with the murder of Julissa Brisman and a robbery at a Boston hotel of a masseuse.

[via Huffpo]

Craigslist.org has been at the center of attention over a recent killing spree allegedly by medical student Philip Markoff.  Two years ago, 24 year old Katherine Ann Olson responded to a phony baby-sitting ad on Craigslist and was murdered. Craig Newmark took the podium at Olson’s memorial concert recently.

“Despite the billions of times well-meaning people have helped each other through Craigslist, it’s been devastating to see that it can also be used by bad people to take cruel advantage of others and bring a senseless end to a beautiful young life,” stated Newmark at the podium. “The most recent crime in Boston has been a grim reminder of that.”

In October 2007, Olson graduated from St. Olaf College with a dual degree in theater and Hispanic studies. She was working several part-time jobs at the time of her murder. On Craigslist, there was an ad listed by the name of Amy who agreed to hire her from 10:30AM-5PM. Amy sent her address in Savage, Minnesota. When Olson showed up, it turned ot to be Michael Anderson instead of Amy. He was carrying a Ruger .357 Magnum Blackhawk revolver gun at the time. Anderson became known as “The Craigslist Killer.”

In March 2009, the sheriff of Cook County in Chicago decided to sue Craigslist in response to the arrest of 76 prostitutes made through the use of the classifieds website.

Below is a full video of Newmark’s speech at the concert.

Philip Markoff, now known as the “Craigslist killer” by a lot of media companies has decided to fight the charges filed against him. The charges are related to the targeting of several women that were offering erotic services through the classifieds website Craigslist.org. Markoff is a 23 year old, second year medical student at Boston University.

Markoff has also been accused of the murder of Julissa Brisman (pictured above). Brisman was found dead on April 14 in a Boston hotel. She was bashed in the head three times and shot three times.

“This was a brutal, vicious crime – savage – and it shows Philip Markoff is a man who is willing to take advantage of women, to hurt them, to beat them, to rob them,” stated Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley. “He probably thought he was going to get away with it. He thought he was too smart for us.”

Authorities were able to find Markoff by fingerprints found on the scene. Another form of evidence worth nothing is the electronic fingerprint. The e-mail account Markoff opened one day before the murder led straight to his apartment.

“There’s an absolute certainty with electronic evidence that is quite powerful and not subject to the kind of interpretation you often get with other kinds of forensic evidence,” added Conley.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote on the company’s blog that they plan to continue collaborating with the Attorneys General and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

[via The Australian/Boston Herald/Mahalo]

Frankly, Sheriff Dart’s actions mystify me,” stated Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster in a blog post.  Buckmaster is referring to a lawsuit that was filed against the company.

By adding measures like phone verification and credit card authorization, Craigslist claims that erotic services have been down by 90-95% across 5 major cities in the last 12 months.  Craigslist even added required fees for posting classifieds under erotic services.  Money made from those services are then donated to worth charities.

What are your thoughts?  Do you think Craigslist is taking enough action to curb prostitution?  Your thoughts in the comments.

This past summer the Chicago Police Department arrested 76 prostitutes found through Craigslist.  There is such a demand for prostitutes on Craigslist that they decided to require them to pay a posting fee with a verified credit cards.  The Cook County Sheriff has had enough.  The Cook County Sheriff is suing Craiglist because he believes that it is “the single largest source of prostitution in the nation.”

Normally I would defend web services from being blamed by the authority, but in this case I agree with the sheriff.  Craigslist is such a large source of prostitution.  Even TV show Entourage pointed it out in one of their episodes.  “We’re going where even a one eyed leper could get laid, Craigs List,” stated Johnny Drama in an episode of Entourage.

So far Craigslist doesn’t have any responses.  Even Craig Newmark’s Twitter account isn’t mentioning the Chicago County Sheriff either.  The Cook County Sheriff’s office (Thomas J. Dart) is the second largest in the U.S.  Over 6,800 police officers are employed by the department.

Craigslist has reached an agreement with over 40 states to prevent prostitutes from posting ads on the site. The erotic services section of Craigslist is a haven for sex workers. Prostitutes freely advertise their services and rates on the site. The only current requirement to post a sex ad is phone verification.

The agreerement will discourage sex ads by requirig sex workers to pay a small posting fee with a verified credit card. The credit cards will help law enforcement track down illegal activity on the website.

It’s only a matter of time before someone finds a way around this. Sex workers may simply post ads in the dating section of Craigslist from now on. Moreover, I suspect that a number of erotic posting will be paid for with stolen credit cards. The sex industry is notorious for breaking rules.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) wants to keep growing upon their classifieds business.  They started Kijiji and own 25% of Craigslist.  Jacob Aqraou said the company plans to expand more upon the classifieds business by taking over a fair number of classified companies over the next 6 months.  eBay plans to take advantage of a slow-down in economic growth and the credit crunch.  It makes more sense to them to buy-out companies than to build more from scratch.

eBay is especially looking for companies that have a strong market-share in their demographics or geographic location where the online auction company lacks a presence.  “They have learned that classifieds can be a hell of a business,” stated Peter M. Zollman, founding principal at Classified Intelligence LLC.   Classified Intelligence estimates the offline and online classifieds market at $100 billion.

eBay’s involvement with classifieds right now generate somewhere between $385 million to $770 million out of eBay’s $7.7 billion.  Aqraou specifically said eBay is targeting Eastern Europe and Scandinavia for acquisitions.  eBay is looking for classifieds ads that in specific lines of work such as car deals or real estate agents.

While eBay is planning to acquire classifieds companies, they are battling Craigslist in court.  eBay sued Craigslist for attempting to diluting their shares in the company.  Craigslist sued them back for starting their own competitive classifieds company.

The Chicago Police Department has a new name for classifieds website named after founder, Craig Newmark.  Craigslist is a “A Free Advertising Network For Prostitutes & Pimps” according to Chicago Sheriff Tom Dart.

A couple of days ago, the sheriff’s police in Cook County Chicago arrested 76 individuals involved with prostitution through Craigslist.org.  The undercover officers posed as interested customers of the prostitutes.  Once the money offer was made, police went in for the arrest.

This is the fourth time that the Cook County sheriff’s police went in for arrests through Craigslist.  Since January 2007, over 149 charges have been made from the Craigslist sting operation.  Sheriff Dart asked Craigslist to remove the “erotic services” section on the site, but Craigslist officials refused to do so.

However, last week Craigslist did place a disclaimer in the erotic services section that human trafficking and child exploitation would be reported.

Craigslist was founded by Craig Newmark.

Information Source:
[1] Valleywag: To end online prostitution, Chicago cops call for Craigslist boycott by Melissa Gira Grant

What makes the whole eBay vs. Craigslist saga interesting is that it seems better to resolve the situation outside of court. Both companies are disagreeing about certain business ethics. Craigslist diluted eBay’s share in the classifieds company, but eBay did create a competitor and even dubbed it a “Craigslist killer.”

Craigslist filed a complaint at the Superior Court in San Francisco, Calif. against eBay claiming that federal and antitrust laws were violated.

eBay responded by saying that the allegations are an attempt to take attention away from their own lawsuit.

eBay filed a lawsuit last month against Craigslist saying that founder, Craig Newmark and CEO, Jim Buckmaster engaged in several transactions to intentionally dilute eBay’s share in the classifieds powerhouse. eBay spent $13.5 million for 28% stake in Craigslist in August 2004.

An unfair move by eBay was that they placed a board member on the Craigslist board who sought confidential information. Craigslist information such as traffic statistics and launch dates was requested while eBay was preparing to launch Kijiji, the “Craigslist killer.”

Stay tuned to Pulse 2.0 as the case develops.

Information Source:
[1] Associated Press:  Craigslist countersues eBay, saying it broke antitrust laws by Amanda Fehd