NEWS
6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2006
INTERNET
Wanted: roommate to exchange sex for rent
BY DAN GOODIN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — In Atlanta, an online ad offers a room in exchange for "sex and light office duty." In Los Angeles, a one-bedroom pool house is free "to a girl that is skilled and willing." And in New York City, a $700-a-month room is available at a discount to a fit female willing to provide sex.
On the widely used Web site Craigslist.org, some landlords and apartment dwellers looking for roommates are offering to accept sex in lieu of rent.
"They have to be attractive. I don't let just anybody come into my house," said Mike, a man who answered the phone at the New York City listing but declined to give his last name
and refused to say whether he has, in fact, collected the rent under the sheets.
The offering of shelter for sex is older than, well, real estate itself.
But the online come-ons are franker than anything you might see in the newspaper classifieds, because they are not edited by Craigslist, and perhaps also because the anonymity of the Internet often causes people to shed their inhibitions.
Trading housing for sex is a form of prostitution. But the police aren't kicking down doors.
Paul J. Browne, a deputy police commissioner in New York, said investigators have found that the Craigslist ads are frequently "little more than a form of voyeurism that didn't result in an actual exchange of sex for rent."
Craigslist provides mostly free classifieds for apartments, used cars and just about everything else in more than 200 cities in 35 countries.
"I usually rent the room for 600, but if you are really ticklish and willing to trade being tickled for the extra rent then we have a deal," writes a gay man offering a $350-a-month room in the San Francisco Bay area.
An ad for a townhouse near Bradenton, Fla., seeks a "female that likes to be nude. Nothing more expected."
rent-for-sex ads.
"This is only a silly sideline adventure of mine," the man, who would not give his name, wrote in an e-mail. "I feel a little embarrassed about it."
One man said he became friends with a bisexual man who answered his ad but did not end up taking the room. The same user said a man visiting from Russia answered his ad and they shared dinner and a bottle of wine, but that was it.
It is unclear how much success people have had with their
The Associated Press e-mailed more than two-dozen other people who placed ads, but most declined to be interviewed.
deemed to be more than Jim Buckmaster, chief executive of San Francisco-based Craiglist, said the company forbids ads that break the law, but his staff of 19 could not possibly police all postings. Craiglist instead relies on users to flag ads they find offensive. If enough people agree, the ad is removed
people "Tens of millions of users are a much more powerful force in examining the more than 8 million classified ads per month than any staff could be," Buckmaster said.
NBC "Today" show co-hosts Katie Couric and Matt Lauer appear during a segment of the television program Monday in New York's Rockefeller Center. Published reports in some New York newspapers Monday said that Couric has reached a deal in principle to anchor "CBS Evening News."
Mike, who offered the room in New York, said his ads are frequently flagged and removed, resulting in a cat-and-mouse game in which he puts them back up.
Tenants rights groups have accused Craiglist of skirting fair housing requirements. In February, a group called the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sued the Web site for publishing housing ads that excluded people based on their race, religion and sex.
Couric may leave NBC for CBS
But legal experts say Craigslist is shielded by a 1996 federal law that protects online service providers that merely pass along unedited information provided by someone else.
by someone else.
And in most states, prostitution laws apply only if the ads are followed by e-mails, phone conversations or other acts that advance the proposition.
"The mere posting itself is absolutely not illegal," said Anthony Lowenstein, a defense lawyer in San Francisco, "unless the guy who posts it or the person who answers it does something that makes it a little closer to happening."
BY DAVID BAUDER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Katie Couric may mark her 15th anniversary as "Today" show anchor this week by making the decision to leave.
leave.
She's talking with CBS about taking over as "CBS Evening News" anchor, according to a non-network person close to the negotiations, and neither CBS nor NBC is disputing reports that she could announce a deal as early as this week.
There are still some issues left to be resolved before a deal is reached, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Couric's contract with NBC ends in May, and she reportedly needed the network's permission to begin negotiations with another network before next month. NBC's decision to grant it could be an indication that the network expects her to leave, or at least that it wants a decision before outlining its fall programming plans to advertisers next month.
curs next month.
Couric's first day as "Today" anchor was April 5, 1991, and the morning show plans to mark that anniversary on the air Wednesday. Her tenure, with Couric paired the last nine years with Matt Lauer, have brought the morning show unparalleled ratings and financial success.
Representatives for NBC, CBS and Couric would not comment Tuesday on the discussions.
Meanwhile, Meredith Vieira of "The View" has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed Couric at "Today" if she leaves, according to people familiar with NBC's thinking. Vieira, a former CBS News reporter who won a Daytime Emmy as host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," has previously turned down offers to return to news since joining "The View."
since June "Today" weekend host Campbell Brown is also a candidate, along with NBC reporter Natalie Morales and "Today" newsreader Ann Curry.
reader Amir Currie,
Couric, 49, would be the first woman to be named as a sole host of a network evening newscast _ even though Elizabeth Vargas frequently has done that job alone at ABC's "World News Tonight."
That designation _ and the desire to try a new challenge after 15 years of early wake-up calls _ is said to be a powerful motivation for Couric. NBC's offer to keep her is reportedly several million dollars more than CBS's offer, but it doesn't include the anchor slot at NBC's "Nightly News," said the person close to the talks.
She likely would begin at "CBS Evening News" in September.
tember. With Bob Schieffer filling in during the year since Dan Rather's exit, the "CBS Evening News" is the only network evening newscast rising in the ratings. But it's still in third place behind NBC and ABC.
"I will be delighted if she
came," Schieffer said on Tuesday. "I think she'll be a great addition to a very good news team ... I've known Katie for years and I think the world of her."
and I think the work of "Today" hasn't lost a week in the ratings in more than 10 years.
"If it comes to an end, I'll be the first to cry." Curry told "Access Hollywood." "If she leaves, she'll be very hard to replace."
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