Whitman, a Republican candidate for California governor, was the first witness in a trial that began Monday in Delaware, pitting eBay Inc. and Craigslist.
EBay claims that Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster improperly acted to dilute eBays minority interest after a falling out in 2007. Craigslist claims in a countersuit that eBay used its stake to gain information to help it form a competing classified service, Kijiji.
“In some sense, Craigslist has been a competitor of eBay since the earliest days,” Whitman said, noting that while eBay was much larger, both Internet companies provided alternative vehicles to facilitate person-to-person [...]

U.S. District Court Judge John Grady said not all postings on the Craigslist “Adult Services” section advertised prostitution and that other services could legitimately appear there.
“A woman advertising erotic dancing for male clients is offering an adult service, yet this is not prostitution,” he said in a 31-page opinion Tuesday.
He said such an ad “might even be entitled to some limited protection under the First Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution.
Grady also said Craigslist is not to blame if those who post ads violate the San Francisco-based Web sites guideline barring prostitution ads.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart filed the lawsuit against [...]

U.S. District Judge John F. Grady in Chicago threw out the lawsuit filed by Sheriff Tom Dart, finding that the site was only a conduit for others to publish the ads and wasnt legally responsible for their content.
“Sheriff Dart may continue to use Craigslists website to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content,” Grady said in a 20-page decision posted on the courts electronic docket yesterday. “But he cannot sue Craigslist for their conduct.”
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Launched as an e-mail list in 1995, Craigslists revenue is on pace to rise 23 percent this year to reach $100 million for the first time, based on an analysis by classified advertising industry consultants Advanced Interactive Media Group.
A spokeswoman for privately held Craigslist declined to comment on the revenue estimate, citing the San Francisco-based companys long-standing refusal to discuss its finances.
Many newspaper executives view Craigslist as a nemesis because it doesnt charge for most ads. As Craigslist and scores of other Web sites have offered free or less expensive alternatives, newspapers total revenue from the classified advertising in print [...]

Five of the seven New York residents were arrested Wednesday on charges of corruption, conspiracy and money laundering. Theyre scheduled to appear in state Supreme Court on Wednesday in Queens, where authorities say the operation was based.
Authorities are searching for the two others.
Late Tuesday night, Craigslist chief executive Jim Buckmaster sued South Carolinas attorney general, saying the prosecutors threat to file prostitution charges against the San Francisco company violates its executives constitutional rights.
The complaint filed in federal court in South Carolina seeks a restraining order to prevent Attorney General Henry McMaster from filing any such charges and contends that McMasters [...]

Attorney General Henry McMaster threatened last week to prosecute Craigslist executives for aiding and abetting prostitution if an ad on the Web site leads to a prostitution case in South Carolina. The prosecutor has said his office is investigating the ads, but so far no charges have been brought.
The San Francisco-based Craigslist has come under closer scrutiny for its “erotic services” category after a Boston-area man was accused of killing a masseuse he met through the Web site. The company has promised to eliminate the category and replace it with a new “adult services” section, where ads will be screened [...]

The old category will be replaced with one listing “adult services,” and a fee will be charged, the company said. Employees will monitor every posting before it appears online - a precaution the site has been criticized for refusing to take in the past.
Pressure to remove the category increased this spring after a Boston medical student was charged with killing a masseuse who authorities say he met through Craigslist.
The move also comes two months after Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart filed a lawsuit alleging Craigslist not only allows the solicitation of prostitution but had created what he called the “largest [...]

In the past, it might have been easy to find someone for the night on Craigslist, but recent efforsts are cleaning up prostitution found there. Jim Buckmaster, Craigslists CEO, said the deal will allow legitimate escort services to continue advertising, while providing a strong disincentive to companies that are conducting illegal business.
“We dont view it as a penalty, we view it as raising the accountability,” he said. “A legitimate business should have no problem with that. They should have no problem providing a phone number or credit card credentials.”
Craigslist filed lawsuits this week against 14 software and Internet companies that [...]