Craigslist has discreetly rolled out new restrictions for those posting ads to its erotic services section. The site serves over nine billion page views per month, putting it in 47th place overall among web sites world wide, ninth place overall among web sites in the United States.

But prostitutes and sex-oriented businesses have long used that section of Craigslist to advertise their services. Along with their ads, they often include pornographic photos. That’s the reason why Craigslist on Thursday filed suit against 14 companies and individuals who stand accused of using the classifieds Web site to facilitate human trafficking, child exploitation, and prostitution.
"The incidence of crime on Craigslist is actually exceedingly low, considering the tens of millions of legitimate ads posted each month by well-intentioned users," Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said in a statement.

Craigslist, which posts 30 million ads every month for everything from apartment rentals to jobs in hundreds of cities, will also begin using new search technology in an effort to help authorities find missing children and victims of human trafficking.
The service was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area. After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of September 2007, Craigslist has established itself in approximately 450 cities in 50 countries.

Therefore Craigslist plans to add other protective measures such as charging a small fee with a valid credit card and requiring a working phone number for posts in its "erotic services" section. Paid ads that violate site guidelines will be removed without refund and the proceeds will be donated to charity, the company said.