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Craigslist sued for discriminatory ads
(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)NEW YORK, Feb 23, 2006 (Columbia Daily Spectator, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --While thousands of Manhattanites are hitting up Craigslist to "trade naughty pictures" or "just get drinks," the online classified site has come under fire for indecent posts in its housing ads section. The popular Web site has recently been sued by a civil rights group for allegedly hosting discriminatory ads.
Craigslist, created by Craig Newmark of San Francisco in 1995 and incorporated in 1999, has grown into a nationwide community of ad listings and forums. It is many young adults' first stop when searching for a place to live, but the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed the suit, said that Craigslist has violated fair housing laws by hosting ads with notices like "No Minorities."
Craigslist said that, as a publisher, it is not liable for what people may post on the site.
"Ironically, if this lawsuit were to succeed, the net effect would be to deal multiple blows to everyone's hard won civil rights -- by significantly reducing access to equal opportunity housing, by undercutting our fundamental free speech rights, and by intruding on important privacy rights," said Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster in an e-mail. He said he believed the lawsuit would be dismissed as "groundless."
"The ads mentioned in the lawsuit range from the universally shocking -- like 'no minorities' and 'African Americans clash with me' -- to unequivocally illegal but less shocking ads like 'no kids' -- to ads that may seem innocuous, like 'kosher deli around corner,' said Laurie Wardell of the Lawyers' Committee, co-counsel in the case, in an e-mail.
According to a committee press release, Craigslist has published more than 200 discriminatory ads from metropolitan Chicago alone since July 2005.
With only 19 employees, Craigslist does not personally screen each of the 8 million advertisements posted. The site states, "Discriminatory postings are exceedingly uncommon, and those few that do reach the site are typically removed quickly by our users through the flagging system that accompanies each ad."
But Wardell said, "We have also found that, when one discriminatory ad is flagged-down, another usually pops up to take its place."
"We have learned as a fair housing organization that even subtle ads discourage people from applying for housing, as people do not want to live where they perceive they are not wanted," she added.
The lawsuit is part of an ongoing debate over who is liable for Web site content.
"Common sense coincides almost perfectly with the law -- each person posting an ad is responsible for the content of that ad," Buckmaster said.
But Wardell disagreed.
"The Fair Housing Act explicitly imposes liability on publishers of discriminatory ads created by third parties," she said.
"I think anyone who puts up an ad should allow anyone to rent," said one local looking to sub-let his Central Park West apartment. "I haven't seen any inappropriate posts."
"We believe that screening housing ads for discriminatory content can be done with minimal cost and disruption," Wardell said. "Current HUD guidelines specify a list of words that indicate race, national origin, gender, religion, family status, etc., use of which would likely violate the Fair Housing Act."
Buckmaster characterized the lawsuit as an anomaly.
"I'd like to think that the fact that we have not had to deal with this kind of thing in the past is largely because people are able to see that at Craigslist we strive pretty mightily to do the right thing," he said.
"We've gotten high marks from fair housing advocates for our extensive campaign to educate our users about fair housing law, and more generally for our openness in working with fair housing offices on better educational materials for our already largely progressive user base."
One woman selling her apartment on Craigslist seemed to be aware of fair housing policies. When asked whether she would refuse to sell her apartment to, for example, an ex-convict, the woman said, "No, you can't discriminate on anything like that. And it's very bad that people are."
Wardell noted that other fair housing organizations had filed similar complaints against other Web sites. She said that her committee was pursuing individuals along with Craigslist.
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