Craigslist suit faces speech hurdle

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A Chicago fair housing group recently made headlines nationwide when it sued Craigslist, saying the popular Web site ran about 100 discriminatory housing ads over a six-month period.

Meanwhile, federal housing regulators are fielding more complaints about discriminatory ads these days--including one against Craigslist--and they say they have made the issue a priority.

Both the Department of Housing and Urban Development and The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law argue that the Fair Housing Act (FHA) applies to the Internet just as it does to print media. And that would mean all Web sites--just like newspapers--are liable for discriminatory housing ads.

But there is another landmark federal statute--Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA)--that has stacked the odds against HUD and the Chicago Lawyers' Committee, Internet law experts say.

The CDA provides broad protection for Internet forums that post ads and opinions submitted by their users. Web sites often wield the law to fight defamation claims, but it has also been used at least once to successfully fight a housing discrimination suit.

This very important lawsuit will determine much of free speech.The irony is,in a place like Chicago, federal laws preventing discrimination which is supposed to lead to diversity hasn't done much.Chicago Public schools are only 9% white.