takes us inside an unconventional university. and you don't know about-face book and twitter but you're too embarrassed to admit it? maybe what you need is a social media makeover. there's no better time than now with the kids going back to school. everything you need to know to join the digital generation. i'm tom foreman. a huge shake-up in the online world tonight involving craigslist. the highly popular website that's been a hit with accusations of promoting prostitution and child trafficking. anybody trying to access the adult section in the u.s. is finding instead of the words adult section, censored. the people who run craigslist are not yet explaining the change but the potential ramifications are huge. in connecticut richard blumenthal said the move was voluntary after he and 16 other state attorneys general sent a letter to craigslist demanding action. >> craigslist either cannot or will not effectively screen out the ads. and so kracraigslist really voluntarily did the right thing as a result of our jawboning and talking to them. but i think it can be a model for other sites that may either enable or encourage prostitution ads. >> leading cnn's groundbreaking investigation into all of this has been our own amber. >> reporter: if you go to any part of craigslist, any city in the u.s. and control down to where the adult services used to be you're greeted with a black bar that says censored and you cannot access that section. we've been trying to get hold of craigslist all day to find out if this is a permanent change. one thing is for sure. this section on craigslist has caused a ton of controversy with victims advocates and attorneys general for the past several years saying that women and chirp are being sold like sex slaves on this portion of the site against their will. so in may 2009, a little history, craigslist came out and said, you know what, we're going to manually screen these ads to protect women and children. so here at cnn we conducted an investigation to kind of put a check on craigslist, to do what they were promising the public they were going to do and we posted -- we created this ad where we clearly wrote $200 an hour that we were charging a price and put sweet, innocent new girl which could indicate this was a minor being sex trafficked. despite the fact this ad broke all of craigslist rules, it was still posted online anyway. we brought the results of our investigation to the founder of craigslist, craig newmark. one of the things going on with craigslist right now, they're saying they're monitoring all of these ads to check if they're underaged or young. we put some words in here, sweet, innocent, new birl. we're going to see what happens. we'll see if craigslist will let our ad post and what kind of calls we get. >> i saw your ad on craigslist. >> hello? >> yes, what's your donation? >> what is that now? we've had 15 calls and the ad has been up for three hours. craigslist says its staff manually screens all of these adult services ads and will reject any that make it look like you're selling sex. that may mott be easy but when we looked through the ads most of them were pretty blatant the most of the young people we work with who have been exploited on line talk about craigslist. they don't talk about the other sites. craigslist is the walmart of online sex trafficking. >> so we're here at george washington university and found out craig newmark is going to be speaking here today at a tech conference. he doesn't know we're coming. he's been media silent about the allegations against him. he is the craig in craigslist. it's his list. so can people trust that children are not being sex rafked on craigslist? >> i think we explained that pretty thoroughly. >> reporter: where jim said you will immediately contact law enforcement if you suspect -- >> a great job showing that we do more than anyone in this area. pretty good for a community of 50 million people. >> reporter: this is inspector brian bray with the metropolitan police department. he's in charge of the enforcement unit. they say they're going to immediately contact law enforcement anytime they see a suspicious ad. you say you've never been contacted by then. >> if they're not fig, i'm not sure they're notifying the right people. we're not getting the calls. >> reporter: what are you doing to protect these girls? you guys say in the blog that you will remove any ad that looks like the person might be promoting sex. clearly here she writes $250 an hour. what do you think she is selling in her bra and underwear? a dinner date? she is in her bra and underwear. what are you guys doing? but you say you screen all these ads manually in your blog. >> i don't know what this is. have you reported this to us? >> reporter: why do i have the responsibility to report this to you when it's your website? you are the one posting this online. i just want to know -- okay. we've run into a lot of victims and a lot of advocates that pretty much call your site the walmart of sex trafficking. since 2008 craigslist agreed to report suspicious ads to the center for missing and exploited children which works with police to find and rescue trafficking victims. two years and hundreds and thousands of gutsy ads later, the center says craigslist has reported fewer than 100. >> amber, if i understand this correctly, when you did this, when you investigated in this way, craigslist's response was somehow the problem was you. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, tom. kill the messenger philosophy. they tried to shift the focus from the real issue to me and came out trying to slam my ethics and cnn's ethics. tom, i always say you can call me whatever name you want but please don't question my ethics as a journalist. so i want to show you something craig newmark wrote. he wrote this op-ed, amber's ambu ambush. it was not an ambush. and he also says that we approached him after an event where he had just spoken about getting real support for our troops and veterans. well, we found a copy of the exact speech craig newmark was giving, called trust is the new black. not once in his ten-minute-long speech does craig mention anything about vet raps or even soldiers for that matter. you can youtube it if you want to check it out and see what the meaning was. in addition to that, he said we ambushed him. well, we didn't. after craig gave this speech, we identified ourselves as being with cnn. told him we wanted to speak with him about the topic of his speech, trust. craig agreed. he casually walked outside with us. we even switched locations at one point because he didn't want the sun in his eyes. as you see craig could have walked away at any point. at one point he did walk away. i didn't even follow him. i let him go and he came back to me and that's when i continued to ask him more questions. >> our thanks to amber. so, are these changes that have happened this weekend on craigslist enough to satisfy critics? we will ask one who recently said, quote, craigslist has made selling children a virtual stop and shop for predators. watch for that coming up at the half hour. speaking of our troops there is news out of afghanistan this weekend, president hamid karzai has taken another step that may well infuriate some military veterans and their families announcing he will establish a peace council to promote reconciliation with the taliban after more than nine years of fighting them. he has made similar proposals before but this is his most concrete step in that direction. the idea of luring lower level taliban fighters into a peaceful alliance shows some promise, somewhat like the awakening movement in iraq. what's not so clear is how or if such a program would work in afghanistan. so, when we come back -- >> i knew i didn't steal anything. it was a really big pressure wave. i reached my right hand down to my legs and i don't remember feeling anything. >> one soldier shares his emotional story on surviving war, coming home, and the shocking moment when he realized his life had changed forever. and on the home front, if you're spending the holiday weekend on the beaches soaking up the post hurricane sun, that's fine. just stay on the sand. earl is gone but our jackie says the water is still very dangerous. some of nature's best ingredients. we created purina one with smartblend. new, delicious shredded morsels and crunchy bites, with real meat, wholesome grains and antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your dog. purina one improved with smartblend. discover what one can do. should we order panda blossom, panda moon... how about chinese at home with wanchai ferry? 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( man ) orthotic 430 is recommended. it recommends the custom fit orthotic that's best for your feet, guaranteed. no wonder footcare scientists are behind it. you'll get immediate comfort... ... that lasts all day. and, you could save a couple hundred bucks. nice ! dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center. hey-- thanks ! for locations, see drscholls.com and the cast has been gathered. when the curtain rises. and the spotlight is yours. having a strong signal at your back... is like having invisible power everywhere. because in that moment... you're not there to take up space. you're there to fill the room. rule the air. verizon. right now, buy a blackberry smartphone and get a second one free. like the bold. only at verizon. we marked a milestone this week. after seven years america's combat mission in iraq officially came to an end. but for the wounded men and women who have served in iraq and afghanistan you might argue that it will never really be over. here are some harrowing numbers, 6,000 men and women have been killed in the two wars. thousands more injured. captain dan brashinski is one of those. he lost both of his legs just over a year ago in afghanistan. while he is back on u.s. soil, he has a long, painful fight ahead of him and he's not alone on this landmark week. rick baldwin has the story. >> reporter: afghanistan, taliban stronghold, one of the most dangerous assignments for troops and dan's new home one month into his deployment. >> people were ambivalent at best and outwardly hostile most commonly, rocks and middle fingers up. >> reporter: from his first mission outside the wire, this west point graduate realized every day has the potential to be deadly. >> my very first mission i watched three ieds go off. game on. this place is not friendly. let's try to keep ourselves off the road as much as possible. >> reporter: soldiers would stick to dirt trails, even orchards. that's where his platoon was patrolling last year. >> we heard an explosion. you can see the dust rise up over the trees. >> reporter: an ied had been triggered and soon after another explosion. two men were killed, berchinski, unscathed, had to hold the area until they could search in daylight. as he was walking down the trail steps from his compound, another blast. >> i don't really remember a soubd or a blast, i just remember pressure. immediately i remember what happened. the next thing i know, opening my eyes in a bright room in the icu at walter reed. i didn't even understand the gravity of my injuries. >> reporter: who told you, the doctor? >> they tell you but it doesn't sink in until you have the strength and the mental clarity to lift your sheets and look. i'm at the point i can walk with one hand. that's the first step of being able to bawalk with one cane. >> left leg amputated above the right knee. his right above the hip. >> it's a bit frustrating. i wake up every morning and go maybe it was a dream and i think of throwing my legs over the side and hopping in the shower. it hasn't come true. oh, crap, back to that. >> reporter: dan, now a captain, knows pain is the price of progress. his recovery is faster than anyone predicted. >> time wise i think it's remarkable. from the very beginning he's been one of those guys, he gets frustrated and he's determined to make it work. >> reporter: dan is taking his rehab step-by-step. as he remembers that day in afghanistan, this georgia native says he wouldn't have wished it any other way. >> quite honestly if it hadn't been me walking through those orchards in afghanistan, it would have been some other 25-year-old. really, i have no regrets. >> reporter: no regrets? >> no regrets. i have to double-check in my head but, yeah, i thought about it quite a bit and i don't think i have any regrets. >> and of course our best to cap ton berchinski and all of our troops on this landmark week. we'll turn back to the internet with a different take on it. are you intim dated by twitter and facebook? our expert will share some tips that might help you online, too. and the family that used the web to find each other and connect for the very first time. >> personally i think our relationship is probably one of the best brother/sister relationships anyone could ever ask for. >> children of an anonymous sperm donor raised in different homes yet brothers and sisters just the same. you took my eggs ! it's an "egg management fee." what does that even mean ? egg management fee. even kids know it's wrong to take other people's stuff. that's why at ally bank we offer rates among the most competitive in the country that won't get eaten away by fees. it's just the right thing to do. with the best decongestant. my choice is clear. claritin-d. nothing works stronger, faster or longer for allergy congestion relief without drowsiness. get claritin-d at the pharmacy counter. live claritin clear. the lexus golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2010 is 250 for $349 a month for 36 months with $3,489 due at signing. see your lexus dealer. it sounds strange to say it but when it comes to the moviexoffice this could be called the summer of the sperm donor. >> yeah, donor. >> that's okay. >> yeah, look at that. several movies have come out including this one called "the switch" that spotlights mothers who use sperm donation. the tech gyp has created a new kind of family tie, the sperm donor sibling, kids born from the same sperm donor are finding each other online. in the best cases they're becoming part of each other's lives and happy about it. that's how it's happened with two sets of twins shown here with their parents. the jacobsons from georgia are on the right. jamie clapoff told me about the first time she and her brother jesse heard from their half siblings. >> i was just really excited to know we have half siblings who are the same age as us and very common interests. it was a little awkward at first but i just really wanted to get to know them more. >> well, i have to tell you right now everybody in america, including me, is looking at the four of you and saying do you look like you're all part of the same family. jesse, talk to me about how you behaved, describe the relationship. we have pictures of you all vacationing together in hawaii. you messaged each other on facebook. it would have been easy to say, hello, nice to meet you, let's move on and forget about it. why have you not done that? >> i think our relationship is one of the best brother/sister relationships anyone could ask for. we're all similar in the same ways. we have the same sense of humor. we're all athletic in our own ways. we're creative. and we just all kind of click together and from the first time we met each other we just said, wow, this is going to be a great relationship and we should keep on keeping in touch and never let this relationship end. >> talk to me about this. these are people you had never met before, genuinely you felt like when you were around them these were more like family than strangers. >> absolutely. like right when we met, of course it was awkward. we never met in person before. you feel a bond right away. like your siblings. i kind of think of it as a combination between your best friend and cousin. that's just how it feels to me. >> we have a photograph with another donor sibling. how many others are there that you're aware of? >> right now 15. we only met eight. >> do you keep in touch with them? >> we keep in touch with jamie and jesse but there are others around the country that we do facebook with, call sometimes, e-mail back and forth so it's different for every -- i think some other siblings also talk to each other different amounts than we do but, yeah, everyone definitely has good communication. >> let me start with the two of you off in california. do you want to know who donor 1096 is and would you like to meet him. >> i personally -- i would like to just see who the donor -- or my biological father is just because i've never had that father figure, but just to see, i would love to see if we have any similarities. but i love the life i have with my mom and my brother. i'd like to meet him but it's not a big priority in my life that i want to seek and find him further than to see a picture or a note about him through the donor/sibling registry website. >> and let's get the other answer from california while we're out there. what do you think? >> well, i think it would be cool to meet him. as jayme, it would be nice to see the similarities we share, but if we don't meet him in our lifetime it's not the biggest deal to me. i love my mom. i love jayme and my family. to me they're just what i need. if it turns out we do meet our biological father it will be a great experience. >> jesse, as you said that, they were nodding here as well. how do you feel about the notion of meeting this person who is the donor? >> i personally don't feel like i really want to meet him but definitely to see a picture to see if we have any similarities and what kind of features that we share with him. >> you get the final word here. what do you think, is it a good idea to meet the original donor of all of this? >> my personal opinion, i don't have any -- i don't feel any bond with our donor but i know other siblings feel differently. i think maybe a picture would be cool to see, to see the similarities. >> we have a warning tonight for all of you enjoying the east coast beaches on this labor day weekend. stay out of the water. it is too dangerous to get into the atlantic ocean. how can that be? the hurricane has passed. well, it's true. all along the east coast. 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