The apartment search website Roommates.com is susceptible to discrimination lawsuits because the site allows users to specify their gender, marital status, and sexual orientation, the ninth U.S. circuit court of appeals ruled Thursday in San Francisco.
The practice violates fair housing laws, and the ruling sets a precedent for the nature of regulating the Internet, which the court, in an 8–3 ruling, said "was not meant to create a lawless, no-man's land," the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
"A real estate broker may not inquire as to the race of a prospective buyer, and an employer may not inquire as to the religion of a prospective employee," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the majority. "If such questions are unlawful when posed face-to-face by telephone, they don't magically become lawful when asked electronically online."
The decision counters the website's perceived immunity from such lawsuits under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which frees websites from responsibility for what users say online, according to Wired.
Christopher Brancart, an attorney for the housing groups, said that Wednesday's ruling proved that websites are responsible for conduct and speech that would break the law in the "physical world."
Timothy Alger, an attorney for Roommates.com, questioned whether the ruling would affect sites that specifically target gays or members of various religious groups, according to the Times. "We're neutral," Alger said. "We don't have a dog in the fight. A woman can search for a man, a straight person can search for a gay person or have no preference.
The three dissenting judges in the case called the ruling an "unprecedented expansion of liability" that could curb the Web's growth. Three weeks ago, the seventh circuit court of appeals in Chicago rejected a similar case pertaining to Craigslist.com.
Alger said that the website's owners, three brothers who started the business in Arizona, are considering whether to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"It is important to remember that Roommates.com is a site that enables people to find other people who want to share homes," Alger told Wired. "Many users of the site share their bedrooms. No court has addressed whether roommate postings violate the Fair Housing Act, or whether the First Amendment protects such postings -- although Roommates.com has repeatedly asked for such a decision. We believe the government has no business regulating the selection of roommates or advertising for roommates."
The case will now go back to the trial court level, where Roommates.com was initially sued by the Fair Housing Councils of San Diego and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles in 2003. The suit was dismissed by the lower court because the site was deemed an information service, protected under the Communications Decency Act. In an appeal in May 2007, Los Angeles's federal court ruled that Roommates.com lost the protection by mandating users to answer the criteria and allowing users to filter possible roommates by those categories. According to Wired, the appeals court later withdrew that opinion and reheard arguments in December 2007. (The Advocate)
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