It’s hard out here for a pimp, yo.

Craig Newmark, founder of the popular internet classifieds listing site Craigslist, and crew intend to make it markedly tougher for our prostitute friends to post an ad on their “Erotic Services” message board, reports Reuters. Authorities from 40 US states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and Guam have brokered a deal with Newmark, whose listings are generally free, to require would-be prostitutes to pay a fee with a valid credit card and provide a working phone number.

While Craigslist’s Terms of Use have long since prohibited advertising illegal activity, they remain hopeful the new measures will solve the growing problem.  "Requiring credit-card verification, and charging a fee to post in this category raises accountability to a point where we expect few illicit ads will remain," Craigslist chief executive  Jim Buckmaster said. “More than ever,” he crowed, “those who would misuse Craigslist to violate the law will find that Craigslist is a very inhospitable place.”

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s Attorney General and resident 40 year old virgin, spearheaded the campaign to raise accountability and transparency with the San Francisco-based company. Given Blumenthal’s insufferable crusade, one would imagine Connecticut would have the lowest crime in the United States, but of course they’d be wrong. According to Uniform Crime Records, Connecticut was ranked 36th in the Union for highest crimes in 2007. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t Blumenthal (and the other 39 state Attorney Generals) be focusing on something more pressing, like, say, the 658 forcible rapes, the 3,067 robberies, or the 8,965 violent crimes committed in the Constitution State instead of waging a full-scale war on these “sensual massage therapists?”

For God’s sake, will someone give this man a lay? I hear Elliot Spitzer still has a few connections…