Craigslist sued for violating fair housing laws

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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Subject: Craigslist sued for violating fair housing laws
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 08:03:50 -0500
From: Patrick Wagstrom <pwagstro () andrew cmu edu>
To: dave () farber net

Dave,

Of possible interest to IP.

Full article available at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_hi_te/internet_discrimination

Patrick Wagstrom
Ph.D. Student in Engineering and Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University


Craigslist Accused of Ad Discriminating
By DAVE CARPENTER, AP Business Writer Thu Feb 9, 7:17 PM ET


CHICAGO - A federal lawsuit accuses the online site Craigslist of
violating fair housing laws by publishing discriminatory classified ads,
reviving the question of what legal boundaries, if any, should exist for
postings on the Internet.

But legal experts say the lawsuit against Craigslist, a fast-growing
online network of classified ads and forums, faces an uphill battle
because of laws in place to protect online service providers.

The lawsuit, filed by a Chicago fair housing group in U.S. District
Court last Friday, contends that Craigslist's Chicago site distributed
more than 100 ads that violated the federal Fair Housing Act by
excluding prospective buyers or tenants on the basis of race, gender or
religion.

Among the housing ads cited as objectionable by the Chicago Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc. were ones that read "NO
MINORITIES," "Requirements: Clean Godly Christian Male," and "Only
Muslims apply."

While it remained unclear Thursday if the suit is the first of its kind,
it signifies a burgeoning effort by housing watchdog groups to extend to
the Internet the same legal restrictions facing those that publish print
classifieds.

"Our goal is to have the Internet places like Craigslist treated no
differently than newspapers and other media who have traditionally been
posting real estate advertisements," said Stephen Libowsky, a counsel
for the housing group. "All of the gains are going to get lost if the
same rules don't apply."

The nonprofit group is an affiliate of the National Fair Housing
Alliance. Its Louisiana affiliate, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing
Action Center, recently filed a similar complaint against the hurricane
relief Web site Katrinahousing.org, alleging it found 68 discriminatory
housing ads.

San Francisco-based Craigslist, founded in 1995 as a roundup of local
events, now has listings in more than 20 countries and 150 cities and
runs 8 million new classified ads a month. Its huge scope means the
Chicago case will likely be watched closely by other online sites. EBay
Inc. owns 25 percent of Craigslist.

A ruling against it "would have a chilling effect on the Internet and
what it was intended to provide, and that is an open forum and free
expression," said Melissa Klipp, a Florham Park, N.J.-based attorney who
practices Internet law.

The lawsuit seeks, among other things, to require Craigslist to report
to the government any individual seeking to post a discriminatory ad and
to develop screening software to preclude discriminatory ads from being
published on its Web site.

Craigslist, which has 19 employees, maintains that screening its
almost-nonstop classified listings would be impossible. Jim Buckmaster,
its chief executive officer, said Thursday that the system is automated
and that users can flag postings. If enough do, it comes off
automatically. The "NO MINORITIES" ad was removed within two hours, he
said.

"We admit that one or two postings per 100,000 are discriminatory,"
Buckmaster said. "But we feel we're in the forefront of promoting fair
housing for everyone."

The site last month added a yellow link on each housing ad warning that
"Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal." When
clicked, users get information about the Fair Housing Act and guidance
on how to write ads that comply.

Several Internet law experts said the suit seems likely to fail, citing
a 1996 federal law that says an online service provider isn't considered
a publisher or a speaker when it merely passes along information
provided by someone else.

Jennifer Rothman, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis,
called it "a complete nonstarter" despite legitimate concerns about
discrimination.

"Congress decided it was more important not to chill speech on the
Internet and not to shut down these Internet providers," she said. "If
you start holding them responsible, essentially you shut down the
business."

"From a moral standpoint, of course, people will expect that if you're
going to run a site like that you ought to police it," said
Houston-based attorney Jeff Diamant. "But all Craigslist is doing is
running a forum for people to communicate."




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