Craigslist Not Liable for Housing Ads-April 1

Most of us love posting on craigslist. And, sometimes we can find very questionable postings there. Is the site liable?



Daily Real Estate News March 17, 2008Craigslist Not Liable for Housing AdsCraigslist, an online network of classified ads, isn’t liable for discriminatory housing ads posted there, a federal appeals court ruled last Friday.The decision upholds a November 2006 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled that Craigslist serves as an intermediary party, not a publisher. She also said the federal Communications Decency Act protects sites that allow users to post unedited messages and communicate freely in forums.The ruling means "the soapbox is not liable for what the speaker has said," said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that advocates for free speech online.The lawsuit, filed by a consortium of Chicago attorneys in February 2006, accused Craigslist of violating federal housing laws by publishing more than 100 ads that excluded potential buyers or tenants on the basis of race, gender, or religion.Source: The Associated Press, Megan Reichgott (03/15/08)