E-Media Tidbits

Craigslist seems to be living a charmed life as a company, but now there's a bump in its road. A Chicago fair-housing group has sued Craigslist for allegedly publishing discriminatory housing advertisements. (Here's a report from the Chicago Tribune.)

The existence of this lawsuit suggests that perhaps rules for an Internet site should be the same as for a traditional publisher, in which every ad must be vetted to conform with the law, according to the Tribune report. That could pose a burden on free-classifieds sites like Craigslist, in which ads go up without staff review once an advertiser posts them. Indeed, if the lawsuit is successful for the housing group, it could in theory force Craigslist to charge for housing ads on its sites, in order to pay for ads to be vetted before publication.

Jim Townsend, writing for Classified Intelligence Report (a paid-subscription industry newsletter), says that Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster told him that Craigslist goes beyond what other websites have done, and beyond what is required by law, to ensure that discriminatory housing ads are not published.

Says Townsend: "Craigslist's housing page contains a link that says stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal. The link takes consumers to a page that cites the Fair Housing Act and an instruction to report prohibited postings to Craigslist." The Chicago lawyers want more. "The suit seeks assurances that Craigslist will come up with the technology to exclude future unlawful listings, and that it fund a fair-housing education program."

Buckmaster told the Tribune that he is "very concerned about discrimination in housing ads," and that fair-housing groups have praised Craigslist for educating its users about fair-housing issues. He also said that it is "our understanding that Internet websites such as a Craigslist do not have the same legal liability as print media in terms of the Fair Housing Act." That's because Craigslist is not a publisher in the same sense of a newspaper, Buckmaster says. "Rather, it is an Internet site where users can publish their own postings."

So, is Craigslist a publisher, or more of a common carrier? The outcome of this case will be interesting -- and important.