Is this the final capitulation?
After the mysterious disappearance of its Adult Services section, Craigslist uttered a symbolic protest by replacing it with a black bar that read "censored" in white type.
Wednesday, however, even that black bar was gone. Any sense that Craigslist was protesting at its manhandling by the combined forces of 17 attorneys general has now been entirely removed, leaving only the memories of nights of promise and days of satisfaction.
Despite the protests of former sex workers and esteemed academics, it seems that Craigslist has, indeed, given up on its Adult Services section for good.
What is remarkable is that the 17 attorneys general, publicly led by Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal, now appear to be pressuring Craigslist to remove its Erotic Services section worldwide.
This is despite the fact that the law doesn't appear to be on the side of the attorneys general. The Communication Decency Act protects sites from the content that appears on them.
As of Wednesday, Craigslist's sites around the world, including such places as the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Canada, still enjoyed access to their erotic services section.
The company has been steadfast in refusing to comment. However, Craiglist founder Craig Newmark retweeted Wednesday a strident post from the Electronic Frontier Foundation objecting to the behavior of the attorneys general.
Still, for those who have been unduly stressed by these rather sad developments, the Therapeutic Services section of Craigslist in, for example, the Bay Area, offers all sorts of soothing massages with pretty, even beautiful people of varying skill sets.
Some might still wonder whether these attorneys general might truly have rather more pressing concerns than pandering to the somewhat curious relationship that some Americans still have with sex.