Craigslist was started in 1995 by software engineer Craig
Newmark. It is a simple website that has become one of the most
popular on the internet by building a massive community of users
who use it to find jobs, goods for sale or events taking place, all
of them categorised by geographical location.
A civil rights group, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law (CLCCRUL), says that between July 2005 and now,
the Chicago pages of craigslist featured over 200 ads that excluded
prospective tenants on the basis of race, gender, family status,
marital status, national origin, and religion.
Some of the ads apparently included statements such as “no
minorities”; “African Americans and Arabians tend to clash with me
so that won't work out"; and “No children”.
The group is trying to ensure that ads posted on the internet
comply with the same requirements that are imposed on ads published
in newspapers. It is arguing that the company is acting as
a publisher.
But this is impractical, says craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster:
“Though possibly well-intentioned, this
lawsuit misguidedly demands that we regress to primitive,
mistake-prone, and wholly inadequate methods (such as manual review
by our staff of the 2 million free housing ads of unlimited length
posted each month, a volume of ads greater than that received by
all US newspapers combined), methods which would actually be less
effective in catching discriminatory ads than what we have in place
currently, and which would vastly reduce the number of legitimate
non-discriminatory ads that the site could process.”
According to Buckmaster, the suit goes further, seeking to force
the firm to pass on to regulatory authorities the details of those
individuals who post discriminatory ads. This, he says, clearly
violates the right to privacy and “may actually
run counter to federal law governing the handling of user
information.”
He says the craigslist community has been successful in tackling
discrimination. Information about the Fair Housing Act is provided
on the website, and the few biased ads that are posted on the site
are usually removed very quickly by means of a flagging
system.
Buckmaster predicts that the suit will fail, following previous
rulings that have protected ISPs and website operators.
US ISPs and website operators are generally immune from
liability under a provision in the Communications Decency
Act which grants immunity from suit to those who provide
material on the internet that was written by others. While most of
the Communications Decency Act has been struck down as
unconstitutional, this provision survives.
In the UK there is no obligation to monitor the content of
websites and monitoring is generally thought to create a greater
likelihood of being considered responsible for third party
content.
However in order to avoid liability under the E-Commerce
Regulations and the Defamation Act for
the third party posting of unlawful material, the service provider
must immediately remove or disable access to material that it
learns is unlawful.
According to Clare O’Connell, a solicitor with
Pinsent Masons who specialises in technology law, there are
specific risks involved in advertising property for sale online in
the UK.
“Where the site is a forum for property sellers to advertise,
there is always a risk it might become liable for inaccurate ads,"
she said. Property misdescription laws apply in the UK with which
operators must comply if they act as estate agents. "But they can
avoid holding themselves out as estate agents if they make it clear
that ads are supplied by the property sellers and if they actively
discourage users from posting misleading ads."
O'Connell said it is also important for site operators to offer
a simple system for users to complain about such
ads – and they need to remove offending ads
quickly. "All of this needs to be written into the terms
and conditions," she said, "so that everyone knows where they
stand."
She said the Office of Fair Trading has also indicated that
where property websites provide a "for sale" board, send out
property particulars or handle queries from potential buyers they
will be or are likely to be considered to be engaging in estate
agency work. "As an estate agent they would require to verify the
content of the property advertisements to avoid criminal liability
for false or misleading statements made in relation to the
properties advertised,” she said.
