We read:
"An online bulletin board used by more than 30 million people each month is not liable for users posting discriminatory advertisements, a US court has ruled. A group of Chicago lawyers sued bulletin board Craigslist in 2006 because some of the housing notices illegally discriminated on the basis of race, gender, religion and ethnicity. Various ads on Craigslist say "no minorities" or "no children". Declaring such preferences violates the US Fair Housing Act and would be illegal in a newspaper.
On Friday a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit of the US Court of Appeals found that Craigslist was not the publisher of those ads, as a newspaper would be. The website was more like an intermediary carrying information from one person to another and was therefore not liable for its content, the panel said in a ruling that upheld a lower court decision.
Judge Frank Easterbrook said the Chicago lawyers could not "sue the messenger just because the message reveals a third party's plan to engage in unlawful discrimination". Judge Easterbrook suggested the lawyers could use Craigslist to find landlords who posted discriminatory ads and forward their names to relevant state authorities. Searches for housing listings on Craigslist currently appear with a warning: "Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal. Please flag discriminatory posts as prohibited."
Craigslist spokeswoman Susan Best said she was pleased with the court's decision on the issue, which has been widely debated as courts seek to determine the responsibilities that internet websites assume for content they publish.
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