Craig Newmark news stories on Newser

Craigslist's Craig: 'Sunday School Roots' at Heart of Site

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:25:47 CDT

Craig Newmark is a nice, unassuming guy who just so happened to start a website that gets 20 billion pageviews a month and is frequently accused of killing the newspaper industry. Despite the wild success of his site—started as a simple group email in 1995—the Craigslist founder still...

Teens: 'Craigslist Helped Turn Us Into Sex Slaves'

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:27:00 CDT

Two young women are charging that Craigslist helped turn them into sex slaves after they were repeatedly "sold" against their will on the popular website. "Craigslist makes horrific acts like this so easy to carry out, and the men who arrange them very rich," said one of the teens, who...

Craigslist's New Cash Cow: Sex Ads

Polly Davis Doig — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:21:26 CDT

For a free site, Craigslist is doing all right: The classified-ad behemoth's profit is projected to climb 22% over last year, reports the New York Times — driven almost entirely by its controversial sex ads, which have been connected to prostitution, human trafficking, and one murder charge. In response to crimes...

Weird Al Pokes Fun at Craigslist

Kevin Spak — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:11:01 CDT

Ready or not, Weird Al is back. The king of geeky parody music has released a new single making fun of Craigslist, CNET reports. There’s no reference to, say, prostitution ads—just Yankovic’s goofy riff on the site’s strange brand of commerce. It’s also a musical parody, this time lampooning...

SC to Craigslist: Kill Sex Ads or We Prosecute

Tue, 05 May 2009 14:48:02 CDT

South Carolina's top prosecutor today called on Craigslist executives to take down ads related to prostitution and pornography or face prosecution. “It appears that the management of Craigslist has knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and unlawful activity,” wrote Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s AG, “after warnings from...

'Evil' Corrupts Craigslist's Good Intent: Founder

Ambreen Ali — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:42:43 CDT

Despite several high-profile murders involving Craigslist, founder Craig Newmark says he hopes to foster community spirit with his 14-year-old site. "Evil does exist," he said at a memorial concert for Katie Olson, 24, who was killed after responding to a babysitting ad. Newmark shared the stage with Olson's parents, who...

Craigslist Founder Declines to Shut Down Erotic Ads

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:18:41 CDT

The founder of Craigslist does not plan to close the "erotic services" section of the website despite criticism that has intensified after Philip Markoff, a Boston medical student, was accused of killing a masseuse who advertised there, and robbing two others. Craig Newmark contends his site already allows users to...

List Guy Craig Branches Out

Kevin Spak — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:40:03 CDT

Everyone knows Craigslist, but Craig himself is getting a little restless. Craig Newmark is spending more time and money on outside projects, the New York Times reports, even with his company in a high-profile tiff with eBay. Newmark, 55, says he spends half his time on customer-service issues, the other...

EBay Sues Craigslist as 'Family' Kerfuffle Gets Nasty

Rob Quinn — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:15:00 CDT

The uneasy relationship between Craigslist and eBay, its competitor-turned-minority shareholder, has taken a turn for the worse. EBay has filed a lawsuit against Craigslist, accusing the classified ad site of "unfairly" diluting the auction giant's stake in it by 10%, the New York Times reports. Craigslist has fired back, calling...