Dear Mr. Cuccinelli,

Let me say, I applaud your desire to curtail the horrid child prostitution industry. I think your intentions are at least modestly noble. However, I am dismayed by you current tactics, which seems to overlook thousands of years of military understanding and the full history of the internet.

You see, your recent letter demanding to have online classifieds site CraigsList remove their Adult Services section will do far more harm than good in the attempt to realize the above stated desires.

Let’s take a look at the situation, shall we?

• Currently, the Adult Services section of CraigsList serves as a single location where a number of prostitution-related crimes are negotiated.
• The operators of CraigsList are known, and even if they are not as cooperative as would be liked, they can be reached and reasoned with. There is an open means of communication.
• The Police are able to understand and operate within the confines of the CraigsList environment both to monitor activities and set up sting operations.

The current situation, while not ideal, is a rather understandable one. It’s familiar. We know who and where the players are. We are able to plan accordingly. Kind of looks like the Cold War, which is good because we actually won that.

What does removing the Adult Services section do to the above picture?

• Single Location?

Gone. Welcome to the world of asymmetric and mobile enemies. Removing CraigsList’s Adult Services section will instantly create a vacuum which, in the short term, might lower the rates of prostitution-related crimes. However, as we’ve seen time and time again on the internet, the removal of a centralized service leads to rapidly innovating and dispersed target. Take a look at the state of copyright infringement post-Napster. The RIAA’s single, predictable location for music filesharing has morphed into an entity that cannot be pinned down and adapts to stay one technological step ahead of those who would stop it.

• Known Operators?

Gone. If you think the operators of CraigsList have been less-than-wholly helpful, wait until you’ve trying to hunt down the owners of anonymous prostitution websites. In fact, why don’t you talk to the FBI crimes against children task forces. I bet they can regale you with tales of just how hard it is to track down some of these more-savvy pedophiles.

Right now, you can pick up the phone and call Craig.

• Trained Police?

Gone…mostly. The tactics and training will have to be modified, turning police into into hunters capable of scouring the internet at large, finding, understanding, adapting, and documenting tactics on the fly. Even if the initial crop of sites and services that pop up operate exactly like CraigsList, the number of replacements will require more police to patrol them.

Removing CraigsList’s Adult Services section takes the familiar, symmetric war and replaces it with an asymmetric, agile, iterative battle. The known is replaced with the unknown. Resources are stretched thinner. Those engaging in prostitution-related crimes get better at their tasks. Innovation occurs in the exact place where you don’t want it. In the end, removing CraigsList’s Adult Services section won’t decrease prostitution-related crimes. If history has taught us anything, killing the Adult Services section will increase prostitution.

But you can’t put that on a campaign ad, can you?