Reactions to regulations, especially where a tax is involved, are a peculiar thing. Take for example what just happened in Helsinki:

Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children’s television series “Little House on the Prairie” suitable for adult viewing only.

To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company’s Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela told Reuters on Wednesday.

The rate is 2 euros a minute for an inspection. Reuters also reports the show is already shown publicly every Sunday morning by the national station. Ironic? Maybe the over-18 rating will help generate new interest.

A press release from Craigslist supports the efforts of 40 US states to regulate sex ads:

As part of Craigslist’s agreement with attorneys general around the country, anyone who posts an “erotic services” ad will be required to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card. The Web site will provide that information to law enforcement if subpoenaed.

Craigslist has also agreed to sue 14 software and Internet companies that help people who post erotic service ads to circumvent the Web site’s defenses against inappropriate content and illegal activity.

It is tempting to assume this will generate more demand for credit card and mobile phone fraud. Wonder how they will validate each in time to block an advertisement.

Although I just heard about this announcement in a presentation by the FBI, they failed to mention Craig’s home state of California was not on the list:

States that signed the agreement include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam also joined

I also do not see Texas or Florida in the list. Coincidence or are the larger state AG excluded for a reason?

Craig points out a couple more details on his blog:

We’ll be working together to fight predators, which includes charging in our “erotic services” category. 100% of profits from this will be contributed to charity. An external accounting firm will be retained to track the details. We will NOT profit from this.

Nice gesture, but what about the rest of the classified. Will they become filled with regulated ads disguised as events and items for sale?

The thief who used Craigslist to hire decoys and escape a bank truck robbery has been caught. He has evaded police since last September.

The suspect wore a blue, long-sleeved shirt with a yellow safety vest, safety glasses and a mask. What initially confused police was a group of people at the scene dressed in similar attire. They had responded to an online classified ad posted three days before the robbery that offered paid landscaping work and specified exactly how the workers should dress.

Police cracked the case with a DNA match from evidence left behind at the Brink’s robbery site, and by reviewing a police report filed three weeks before the robbery about unusual items found behind a trash bin near the bank.

In the earlier incident, a person noticed the items, including a safety vest, a two-way radio, a wig and large can of Mace and watched as a man drove up and took them.

The witness jotted down the license plate and gave it to a city worker. Police traced the license plate to the suspect’s wife, police said.

Fortunately the police remembered the earlier report and were able to correlate the two.

The suspect has a history of minor crimes such as prescription forgery, but nothing this “significant,” Willis said.

Police think the suspect used a laptop and hacked into someone else’s wireless signal to post the Craigslist ad, which he thought would help conceal his identity, [Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie] Willis said.

That comment suggests that review of the Craigslist logs did not help the investigation. It certainly did not help as much as a suspicious activity report at the bank and a license plate number. Just some good old detective work, despite technology, saves the day.