Electronics & Computers Deals here!Craigslist cleared on discrimination claims
Craigslist.org can't be held liable for discriminatory ads posted on its site, according to a court ruling released Friday.
A group of Chicago lawyers had sued the online classifieds site over real-estate ads that stated discriminatory preferences such as "no minorities" or "no children." The group, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, argued that such ads are prohibited under the Fair Housing Act and that Craigslist should be held liable for allowing them to be posted on its Web site. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, likening Craigslist to courier services such as FedEx or UPS, which do not read or screen the messages they deliver. Easterbrook said it would be expensive and problematic for Craigslist to filter messages before they were posted.
The ruling (PDF) is good news for the many Web sites that host public forums, giving them further legal protections against liability claims based on content posted by their users, but is an obvious setback for proponents of fair housing online and off.
Jennifer Guevin is CNET News' assistant managing editor. She focuses on science and contributes to CNET's kitchen gadgets blog. E-mail Jennifer.
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http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?submit=showbr&shofile=07-1101_021.pdf
I don't think it would be that difficult or expensive to prohibit certain phrases like "whites only," in the context of a housing ad, say. Of course, this will take some doing, but we should at least try and see what can be done. Its crazy to let certain laws go, just because they may take some thinking to implement.
Or, should we allow organs and babies to be sold on eBay, too? And hard drugs? And helpful service offerings to break people's legs, maybe?
The filtering won't be perfect, but it can be fine tuned over time, and just like everything else in life, the effort just needs to be tempered and balanced.