A Legal Challenge for Craigslist

Craigslist has become a runaway Internet success. About half of my students said that they have bought, sold or rented something through this online classified ad site.

Craigslist has found itself on the defensive in a case that may further define how responsible unedited online sites are for messages placed on them that are illegal. The issue at hand is whether Craigslist must edit or reject housing ads with discriminatory content that are in violation of the Fair Housing Act. A newspaper would be compelled to reject the discriminatory ads or alter them. Internet sites have largely been able to avoid this level of control (and responsibility) because they are unedited.

Other large Internet companies are closely following this case, fearing that a setback for Craigslist could make Amazon responsible for the content in user-written book reviews or Yahoo! responsible for messages posted in its user newsgroups.

One MC101 opined that this sort of regulation would be ineffective because it would be largely impossible. "Regulating cyberspace," she said, "would be like trying to regulate outer space."