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Craigslist, the online classified section that has taken over the rental listings market in many cities was found by a federal judge for not being liable over allegedly discriminatory ads placed on the service. Housing advocates in Chicago had sued Craigslist for violating fair housing regulations.

The decision was a victory for online civil liberties supporters. It was a setback for housing civil rights advocates, though they still found some hope in the judge’s ruling. The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sued San Francisco-based Craigslist in February, claiming that during a six-month period, the site published more than 100 housing ads in Chicago that violated the federal Fair Housing Act.

Those ads included such declarations as “Non-women of Color NEED NOT APPLY” and “African Americans and Arabians tend to clash with me so that won’t work out.” The 1968 Fair Housing Act bars housing discrimination, and newspapers and other publishers of ads deemed discriminatory can be held liable for violating the law.

But the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA), in an attempt to promote unfettered free expression online, shields web forums from liability for ads and opinions posted by their users.  That’s what Craiglist argued in its defense in the Chicago case, and it was joined in friend-of-the-court filings by such Internet giants as Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Yahoo! and AOL. via the Chicago Tribune.

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3. Warning: Craigslist Rental Scam
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5. Real Estate Website Sued For Publishing Public Data By Law Firm