eBay executive Garrett Price is fighting with Craigslist in court over what, exactly, he said about his boss during business negotiations five years ago, according to NBC Bay Area. Craigslist, the online classifieds company, claims he confided a ferocious picture of Whitman:

[Craigslist CEO Jim] Buckmaster testified that Price told him that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman could go from "Good Meg" to "Evil Meg," and that in her frustration with Craigslist was leaning toward the latter and becoming a "monster."

Price, naturally, denies all this. Maybe he was awkwardly trying to set up a good cop/bad cop dynamic; he was negotiating to buy a stake in Cragslist at the time. But it all comes back to the bottom line: This kind of talk will haunt you, one way or another.

UPDATE: Added video of Buckmaster's testimony.

Valleywag was the first to report, back in 2007, how Newmark and co-founder Jim Buckmaster required the equivalent of a $16 million bribe from eBay to honor an early employee's 25 percent stake in the online classifieds company. The employee, purported Craigslist co-founder Philip Knowlton, had previously agreed to sell his equity to eBay in desperation, for a separate $16 million, after Newmark and Buckmaster tried to dilute his holdings with new shares. People would speak about the incident only anonymously at the time.

But an eBay executive laid out the same story in testimony today in Delaware court, saying Newmark and Buckmaster demanded $16 million and threatened to block the deal if they didn't get it — their ownership award to Knowlton be damned. Their demand amounted to "essentially extortion," the executive, Garrett Price, testified, according to NBC Bay Area and the San Jose Business Journal.



What's more, Price also testified that Newmark and Buckmaster asked that the payment be hushed up to protect Craigslist's altruistic image. That way, Newmark could continue to float preposterous, image-enhancing deceptions like this one, swallowed by Wired and printed as part of an August 2009 profile of Newmark:

Newmark abandoned the idea of running Craigslist as a nonprofit, which would have required him to learn and follow too many rules.... in the meantime he handed out a significant portion of his ownership to others as a way to avoid acquiring too much authority.

So on the one hand, Newmark is telling the press he's intentionally diluting his ownership in the company to keep his ego in check; on the other, he's frantically bolstering that ownership, a process he only halts when he gets a payoff, made to him, at the expense (effectively) of a major shareholder and former employee/co-founder. What's more, as a result of these shenanigans, his quirky indy SF startup is now partly sold out to a big bad tech giant.

Newmark has yet to take the stand. It should be interesting to see how he spins his way out of this one — not only in the court of law, but in the court of public opinion and brand image.

The only non internet person on Couric's list, in fact, is FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. The other people who control the media, according to the CBS Evening News anchor, are all Web heads:

• Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
  
• Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington.
  
• The founders of the women's blogging network BlogHer: Jory Des Jardins, Elisa Camahort Page and Lisa Stone. This is a big stretch but we're assuming Couric is trying to imagine the less sexist world she'd like to live in and lend some buzz to a feminist cause. Fair enough.
  
• Craig Newmark, Craigslist founder.
  
• Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
  
• Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Couric is obviously just trying to butter up people who might be able to help her ditch the old fuddy-duddies at CBS News and expand her promising sideline in lifecasting. Which is, frankly, brilliant. We know some other people who might be able to help you Katie, call us.

Oh, and the Jewish thing? Couric is no anti-Semite, but we couldn't help but notice that her list of people who supposedly control the media does contain a majority of people of Jewish descent: Brin, Page, Newmark, Zuckerberg, Genachowski and Camahort Page.

Of course, the pace of change in Silicon Valley has a way of leveling these old-world distinctions. Page's family was non-practicing; Zuckerberg has gone atheist and Camahort Page is "a total non-religious person."

[via Bay Newser via NBC Bay Area]

Said Judge John Grady:

"Sheriff [Thomas] Dart may continue to use Craigslist's Web site to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content. But he cannot sue Craigslist for their conduct."

Since the sheriff filed his suit in March, Craigslist has renamed the section "adult services" and imposed rules requiring a working phone number and valid credit card from, err, adult service providers. This doesn't seem to have impacted business much. But that's actually a good thing for the sheriff: since hookers will continue to flock to Craigslist, which cooperates with police, Dart can continue to use the site as a choke point for large-scale prostitution busts, as he has in the past. He just can't demonize the site for his own political posturing.

Instead of posting nude photos with their "massage" and "escort" ads, providers now post bikini pictures, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. And instead of explaining how many times you can have sex with them, they now "quote their prices in roses per hour." This is all wayyy too confusing for customers, says the "Erotic Service Providers Union," proving decisively the Craigslist has the dumbest johns on the planet.

It seems every day brings more stories that help paint the listings website as a cesspool of scams, killers and sexual exploitation. Here's just a random smattering of the coverage from the past week or so:

• Queens woman allegedly rents same apartment to seven people via Craigslist (NY Post)
• Woman reports buying fake tickets to Chesney (Fargo Inforum)
• Two busted in Craigslist hooker scam (NY Daily News)
  
• Nebraska Mom Attempts to Sell Her 18-Month-Old on Craigslist (AP)
  
• Hawaii Craigslist Sex Ring Busted; Woman Wanted (KGMB)

A tipster reached out to us after "interviewing" for a job she found on Craigslist (one posted here but since removed) purporting to pay $19/hour to work from home entering data and routing electronic records. Despite a plethora of capitalization and punctuation errors in the questions, she answered an email interview.

Next, she was asked to deposit a check, deduct some money, and forward the balance to a "payment agent." Luckily this set off alarm bells.

Here's the initial reply. Note the originating IP address, which traces to Nigeria.

After the victim provided the requested information, this comical list of interview questions came next:

And finally, the request for money. Typically, the victim in a situation like this will deposit a bad check from the perpetrator, use some of the money, and forward a check for the balance back to the perpetrator. Then the check originally sent to the victim bounces.

After the state's attorney general publicly threatened Craigslist over its "adult services" ads, even in the face of recent restrictions on such listings, Buckmaster promptly blasted back with a well-written weblog post suggesting the state should also consider arresting the CEOs of AT&T, Microsoft, and Village Voice Media,

not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses feature more "adult services" ads than does craigslist, some of a very graphic nature. For a small sampling, look (careful NSFW) here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here... What's a crime for craigslist is clearly a crime for any company.

Then came the coup de grace: A lawsuit against the AG for restraining Craigslist's free speech — announced in a Craigslist blog post, naturally.

Rather than allow its reputation as a shady haven to fester, Craigslist is finally tackling it head-on. And not by hiding behind some spokesperson (as much as we adore Craigslist's Susan Best), but direct, straight from the CEO's mouth online, and via its lawyers in court.

The pushback came none too soon: New York's attorney general just busted a Queens-based prostitution ring that advertised exclusively on Craigslist.

Craigslist has long taken pride in the fact that its executives get their hands dirty; founder Craig Newmark famously calls himself "chief customer service representative." That's proven to be a lucrative strategy. Who's to say the company's muscular PR moves aren't an example worth following, as well?

UPDATE: South Carolina's AG has released a statement bizarrely taking credit for changes Craigslist made a week ago:

Columbia, S.C. – "The defensive legal action craigslist has taken against the solicitors and my office is good news. It shows that craigslist is taking the matter seriously for the first time.

More importantly, overnight they have removed the erotic services section from their website, as we asked them to do. And they are now taking responsibility for the content of their future advertisements. If they keep their word, this is a victory for law enforcement and for the people of South Carolina.

We'll chalk it up as a face-saving retreat.

This was recently posted to the Palo Alto Craigslist jobs board:

Successful entrepreneur in media/entertainment/technology fields seeks intelligent, open-minded, flexible and responsible muse who will be a sounding board for often radical creative idea, story and production concepts, and in time, to become a confidante and life coach to help him express inner motivations within the context of a very complex, fast-paced life.

Entrepreneur has existing personal assistant/executive admin staff providing primary business and household administration services. Ideal candidate would join this team in Personal Assistant role under the close supervision/tutelage of Executive Assistant, augmenting staff and filling in as needed and in accordance with skill set/experience. Responsibilities include supporting business and personal travel, including private jets/ground transportation/hotels; personal shopping/style suggestions; attending (and at times organizing) social/political/business events; recommending (and at times attending) entertainment/dining/ art and music events, valet services, advising/coordinating diet/exercise, handling any small matter that arises, from picking up coffee to coordinating conference calls. Candidate must be able to scale from professional to casual demeanor, and from business to casual dress, and to be able to able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, from financial executives to fine artists and filmmakers.

Entrepreneur has substantial executive responsibilities that come in fits and starts with existing projects and personal obligations that tie up his time randomly and leave unpredictable blocks of time available, often with short notice of opening slots and closing slots. Candidate needs to be able to be in a position to be highly flexible in terms of availability. As experience and familiarity with entrepreneur's lifestyle grows, there is opportunity for more hours of work, overlapping more of entrepreneur's day. Over time, ideal candidate would "shadow" entrepreneur, in both a personal assistant and muse role, handling practical matters as they come up, as well as being a sounding board/coach/critic for ideas both in scheduled sessions and when time avails itself, e.g. during flights.

Ideal candidate has or is getting Bachelors or Masters degree; has knowledge and interest as well as an eye/ear in the realms of art, music, film, video, performing arts, fashion, videogames, interactive online media; is an effective writer and/or sketcher to document/organize ideas; an empathetic listener; tasteful; adept at using computer tools/navigating the Web. Pluses include artistic, performance and/or training/massage experience. Candidate must be comfortable exploring any creative material, including highly personal and extremely dark subjects. But above all, candidate must be the sort of person with a serious passion for a long-term career in the role of providing support for a highly creative, high-end individual who has an extremely busy and complex life.

This is an exceptional position for an exceptional candidate. Compensation commensurate with experience, applicable skill set and fit for the role. If the candidate works out, opportunity for substantial financial growth and first-class perks. An ideal fit will be highly valued. Position will start on a part-time trial basis, and then if candidate is a fit, expand in accordance with scope of role candidate is able to fill. Schedule: initially 8-24 hours/week.

Must be legal to work in the US, have driver's license and car. You will be provided with everything else needed for your work.

Respond via email with brief description of how you see yourself as suited for this role and resume.

So does we have any guesses as to who the person that placed the ad might be? And can someone please forward this on to Mary Rambin so she can hurry get her resume in? For some reason she sounds perfect for this gig.





Creative/Tech Entrepreneur Seeks Exceptional Muse/Personal Assistant [Craigslist]

And we found one for somebody! On Craigslist, naturally...

We are looking for a few good writers who know their way around Twitter and Facebook who can leave native comments in groups and to people that are relative to our Company's products.
We will pay anyway you like: per comment, per day, per month, per minimum comments left, per forum. Whatever works best for you.

We are a new Company with a great line of products and we are just looking to get recognized. We are not looking to spam thousands of irrelevant comments. We are not very Twitter or FB savvy, and do not have the time to spread the word ourselves. This is like our Stimulus plan. You leave some cool appropriate comments, and we stimultate the economy by 1) paying you good money, and 2) by helping a new company get off the ground. It's a Stimulus whammy!!

Email us and let us know first if you understand your way around Twitter and Facebook, and second if you have the time to help us.

Thanks

* Location: anywhere
* Compensation: $2-$5per comment or Forum that's relative to our product. This can add up very quickly as there are 1000's of Blogs, forums, Tweets, Groups, etc out in the Webworld.
* Telecommuting is ok.
* This is a part-time job.
* This is a contract job.
* This is an internship job
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

So what are you waiting for? Polish up that resume and contact them! Shit, for $2-$5 per comment, I may even have to apply! Who are these people slinging around that kind of money in this economy anyway, Goldman Sachs?

Earlier today, several attorney generals announced that Craigslist would be ending their "erotic services" category. But in the first statement on the change from the company, which was forwarded to us by Craigslist spokesperson Susan MacTavish Best, the new "adult services" forum Craigslist is planning to replace it with will be an entirely for-profit venture. In the old "erotic services" category, Craigslist had charged sex workers a fee for phone verification, but donated all of the proceeds, after costs, to charity.

Here's Craigslist's explanation of the move (emphasis added):

Note: Our announced intention to contribute 100% of net revenues for the "erotic services" category to charity has been fulfilled, and will continue to be fulfilled, notwithstanding criticism questioning our good faith in this regard. However, in light of today's changes, and to avoid any future misunderstanding, we are making no representation regarding how revenue from the "adult services" category will be used. Our commitment to philanthropy remains however, and craigslist will continue to develop its charitable initiatives.

So, our elected officials, in their effort to find a scapegoat for crimes against sex workers like the murder of Julissa Brisman, have taken a site that never made a dime from the hookups it helped set up, and turned it into a full-time, for-profit sex money machine. You know, like the alt-weekly newspapers littering town. Progress!

Here's the full statement from Craigslist:

STRIKING A NEW BALANCE

As of today for all US craigslist sites, postings to the "erotic services" category will no longer be accepted, and in 7 days the category will be removed.

Also effective today for all US sites, a new category entitled "adult services" will be opened for postings by legal adult service providers. Each posting to this new category will be manually reviewed before appearing on the site, to ensure compliance with craigslist posting guidelines and terms of use. New postings will cost $10, but once approved, will be eligible for reposting at $5.

Unsurprisingly, but completely contrary to some of the sensationalistic journalism we've seen these past few weeks, the record is clear that use of craigslist classifieds is associated with far lower rates of violent crime than print classifieds, let alone rates of violent crime pertaining to American society as a whole.

The relative safety of craigslist compared to print classifieds is likely due to some combination of:

* Measures such as blocking, screening, and telephone verification  
* Community moderation via flagging system  
* Electronic trail ensures violent criminals are quickly caught  
* Personal safety tips prominently posted  
* Unusually high level of cooperation with law enforcement

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.

However, with respect to this new paid category for advertising by legal businesses, we will experiment with some of the methods traditionally employed in paid print classifieds.

We'd like to thank everyone who has provided helpful input over the past few weeks, all of which we've closely considered:

* Our users, whose suggestions have shaped every aspect of craigslist  
* Attorneys General, who have provided valuable constructive criticism  
* Law Enforcement officers nationwide, who have been hugely supportive  
* Legal businesses concerned at their right to advertise being questioned  
* EFF and other legal experts defending free speech and Internet law

We are optimistic that the new balance struck today will be an acceptable compromise from the perspective of these constituencies, and for the diverse US communities that value and rely upon craigslist.

Note: Our announced intention to contribute 100% of net revenues for the "erotic services" category to charity has been fulfilled, and will continue to be fulfilled, notwithstanding criticism questioning our good faith in this regard. However, in light of today's changes, and to avoid any future misunderstanding, we are making no representation regarding how revenue from the "adult services" category will be used. Our commitment to philanthropy remains however, and craigslist will continue to develop its charitable initiatives.

Is Craigslist's new "adult" category just a name change? "We're very encouraged that Craigslist is doing the right thing in eliminating its online red light district with prostitution and pornography in plain sight," said Connecticut attorney general Dick Blumenthal. "We'll be watching and investigating critically to make sure this measure is more than just a name change." Craigslist will cancel all existing Erotic Services ads in seven days, and start up the new category. In other words, it's just a name change.

There is one critical difference: Craigslist employees will be reviewing ads for tell-tale prostitution-friendly phrases. (For example, if your escort asks for a "donation" of "roses," she's actually talking dollars, and it's not optional.) Of course, this just means that the sex workers will go to other, less-monitored areas. Craigslist Missed Connections will never be the same! Or they'll go to other websites altogether.

The only highlight in this silliness: The image of hypernerdy Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, who constantly reminds everyone that his only role at the site is as a customer-service rep, manually reviewing sex ads. We reached Newmark on the phone. As we started to ask him how his customer-service department would handle the new workload, he reminded us there were other Craigslist customer-service personnel, and then referred calls to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and PR rep Susan MacTavish Best. Come on, Craig: At the very least, this new assignment should give you something to talk about at parties besides how terrible newspapers are.

In case you were wondering, "ABR" is the love that dare not speak its name, because its mouth is too full of nipple.

The petitioners are echoing media pressure in calling for Craigslist to shut down its Erotic Services section, thereby preventing the likes of Markoff from contacting 25-year-old "masseuses" through the site. Craigslist does charge for erotic listings, but donates the revenues from the category; Casual Encounters is free. The only way the site makes money is from job and apartment listings; Craigslist doesn't make a dime when you unload your old couch on the site. Frankly, Craig Newmark would make more money and have fewer headaches if everyone not looking for a job or a place to live went elsewhere.

And of course, if Craigslist banned Erotic Services, that's exactly what its clientele would do — buy and sell the same services elsewhere online. That's a far easier route to take, and would save Craigslist a lot of headaches complying with vice-squad subpoenas — which is why most websites ban the sex trade altogether.

"Craigslist is the largest source of prostitution in America," Cook County sheriff Tom Dart told ABC News. Nonsense. Horny, desperate men are the largest source of prostitution in America. And Dart should be happy that they're visiting a website which rolls over so easily when the police call.

What no one is saying: Laws banning prostitution, which makes women engaged in trading sex for money vulnerable to predators, are the real problem. Western Europe's boring brothels suggest that legalizing prostitution is a danger to sexual excitement but not public mores. Sure, boycott Craigslist! It's an easy move to stop spending money with a site that costs nothing — one that changes exactly nothing about the dynamic that got Julissa Brisman killed. Meanwhile, Newmark, the lazy millionaire, will keep doing his humble-nerd act all the way to the bank.

Olson's family is holding a service for her on May 3 at which Newmark is due to speak. The plans for a memorial come after a jury found Michael Anderson guilty of premeditated murder in the October 2007 killing. (He's the first man to have gotten the label "Craigslist killer"; more recently, Boston medical student Philip Markoff has been accused of using a Craigslist ad to lure a masseuse to her death.)

Newmark told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the Olson case was "the worst that I can recall." The Olson family says Newmark has been supportive of them.

It all seems ridiculous. If Anderson had placed a classified ad in City Pages, would we be calling him the alt-weekly killer? Would its publisher be invited to speak at her funeral? Anderson's just a killer. And Newmark's just an amoral millionaire with an insanely lucrative website which he can't be bothered to police for psychopaths. Does tacking "Craigslist" on either man's label change anything?

And furthermore, why is this important news just now coming out 18 months after the NYPD allegedly stopped setting up stings on Craigslist hookers and johns? Whoa, so many questions! You're quite interested in Craigslist hooker information, wow!

It's simple really: ABC newsman George Weber got murdered by a 16-year-old he found on Craigslist, which, by the ironclad rules of Media Scandal Follow-Up Stories, means that it's time to delve into the seedy world of online prostitution, and what it means for YOU.

And whattayaknow, it's safe to go finding hookers on Craigslist again:

The Vice Squad Craigslist program was shut down about 18 months ago, sources told The Post. But NYPD spokesman Paul Browne insisted it happened as long as three years ago because a new commanding officer of the squad thought it was "a waste of resources."

Yokel Craigslist-suing Sheriff Thomas Dart could learn something from the NYPD. This is all part of a larger social contract. Cops agree to stay off Craigslist while they're on duty, and in return, we don't hold them to be hypocrites when they hire hookers from Craigslist while they're off duty. [NYP]

The editorial workers would invest some of their own money, a Guild representative told the Appeal. But they could hardly acquire the Chronicle on their own, even assuming a heavy markdown from Hearst's 2000 price of $660 million.

Possible buyers fall into a few broad categories:

Old San Francisco money: There's been chatter among Chronicle journalists for years about the possibility of a local investor like private-equity billionaire Warren Hellman or Gap founder Don Fisher buying the paper. It's hard to imagine either of those red-blooded capitalists giving up on the idea of a profitable local newspaper, but then one never puts money into a cash-hemorrhaging hometown paper for purely rational reasons.

New dot-com money: If it's hard to imagine local elders funding a (purposely!) non-profit Chronicle, it's even harder to picture Silicon Valley's many Google million- and billion-aires doing likewise. Newspaper philanthropy would hardly be a hot topic of conversation among young founders on the Web 2.0 cocktail circuit.

Craig Newmark: The San Francisco-based Craigslist founder likes to think of himself as being in a different, entirely more altruistic class of startup founder. In the case of newspapers, he does stand apart, and not just because of his instrumental role in ushering along the decline of print journalism: Newmark has a peculiar (for the tech world) obsession with journalism and politics, leading to investments in content aggregator Daylife and citizen journalism initiative NewAssignment.net and advisory roles at the Center for Citizen Media and Sunlight Foundation.

But even assuming he wanted to buy the Chronicle, it would seem a stretch for Newmark to do so on his own. Craigslist throws off maybe $100 million or $130 million in annual profits, which Newmark must split with other shareholders. The Chronicle is losing $50 million a year just operating, to say nothing of the purchase price.

With enough cash from employees, a fire-sale price from Hearst and maybe one or two more rich investors, it's possible to imagine Newmark picking up the paper, should some sort of expensive guilt complex compel him to do so.

The Chronicle would then be the largest nonprofit paper in the country, ahead of the Poynter Institute's St. Petersburg Times.

More likely, though, would-be newspaper philanthropists will come to the same conclusion as would-be newspaper investors: It makes little sense to invest in fixing the old problems of a dying industry when you can net much more glory or profit starting from scratch.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart is suing Craigslist. He says it's "the single largest source of prostitution in the nation," and he's scheduled a press conference to discuss the move.

Why sue Craigslist? The site rolls over when the police come calling, and the data it gives up about its users regularly results in large-scale arrests for prostitution. In 2007, Dart's department arrested 254 people in a four-month-long bust. A similar bust in New York's Westchester County yielded 66 arrests. Police in Irvine, Calif. and Everett, Wa.directly credited Craigslist ads with helping them make arrests.

Why shut down such a rich vein? It's telling that Dart is making a big, public stink about prostitution on Craigslist. If his goal were stopping prostitution, he'd want to keep Craigslist open, providing his department with a steady source of leads. It's easier than staking out street corners.

No, Dart needs to be seen as stopping prostitution. And that requires calling out Craigslist. He'd better hope he doesn't succeed, because pushing the whores and johns to darker corners of the Internet will mean he and his men will have to work a lot harder to keep their arrest numbers up.

(Photo via KOMO)

Specifically, the old-fashioned poster tacked on a streetlamp. One appeared near the San Francisco yoga studio from which the glasses were stolen, along with Newmark's Craigslist business card. The description — "Okio brand, brown with turquoise overtones" — closely matches a Craigslist posting which also mentioned the following missing items:

Timbuktu Void Backpack: navy with light blue stripe
-coach black wallet, passport, drivers licence, credit cards, cash, motorola phone, Ayurvedic herbs, grey scarf, grey jacket

Ayurvedic herbs, a grey scarf, a Coach wallet? If this doesn't match your image of Newmark, a diminutive and soft-spoken fellow who rarely meets the eyes of his conversation partners, it's because the glasses and the bag aren't his — they belong to his girlfriend, Eileen Whelpley, according to the Craigslist post. What a mensch! Newmark is willing to expose the ineffectiveness of his website to recover his girlfriend's glasses.

In most states, libel is a civil matter, not a criminal one; but Colorado's laws are archaic. Even so, criminal prosecution for libel are on the rise. 13 cases have been filed this year, six times the rate that prevailed from 1965 to 2002. Of course, the Internet's to blame: The seeming anonymity of the Web makes it a natural forum for venting.

That's what Weichel told police he was doing when he wrote on Craigslist that his ex-girlfriend, with whom he was locked in a battle for custody of their daughter, had engaged in child abuse and performed sexual favors for the services of her attorney.

Most people shrug this kind of thing off. If you dare to do so much as post a comment on a message board, someone's likely to call you a piece of shit, for sheer entertainment value. It's become an expected part of life on the Internet. Websites generally aren't responsible for their users' postings, and tracking down a virtual offender is a tedious chore.

Indeed, if we could just find these digital blackguards, we could reach back in time for a solution: dueling. Remember when we handled slights to our honor with pistols at dawn? So much less messy without lawyers involved. And the emergency rooms are great at handling gunshot wounds these days.