• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 26, 2010

Connecticut’s top law enforcement official is once again publicly condemning Craigslist for enabling users to post unlawful sex ads.

"A cursory review of the adult services section still reveals posts that are clearly for illegal prostitution," Blumenthal wrote in a letter to a lawyer for Craigslist. "Even though some of these ads attempt to shield their true purpose by pretending to be for legitimate adult services, they remain blatant solicitations for sex."

Blumenthal goes on to complain that Craigslist "acted irresponsibly" by deciding to keep the $10-per-ad fee that it charges users to place adult listings. Last year, when Craigslist replaced its "erotic services" section with a monitored "adult services" category, the site also said it would no longer donate the fee for such ads to charity; at the time, the fee was $5 per ad.

Blumenthal decided to complain after learning of a new report by Advanced Interactive Media Group, estimating that sex ads will fuel 22% revenue growth for Craigslist to $122 million this year.

Craigslist rightly counters that other media outlets carry far more explicit ads.

Additionally, Craigslist has a near ironclad legal argument: The federal Communications Decency Act broadly says that sites are immune from prosecution for users' illegal posts (except for posts that infringe on copyright or trademark).

Just last year, a federal judge in Chicago dismissed a lawsuit against Craigslist by Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart for that reason.