In a recent case, Craigslist was found to be not liable for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act because listings that were discriminatory for housing (gender, race, etc.) were posted by others, which meant that Craigslist was not the “author” of the listings.

But what about liability for ads that encourage others to engage in crimes? For example, an Oregon man had many of his belongings stolen from his home because some prankster posted two listings on Craigslist that essentially said that the house was abandoned and that anyone could come and take what they wanted. Even when the owner appeared on the scene to stop the theft, those who were there showed him copies of the listing, ignored him, and took stuff anyway until the police arrived.

My hunch is that this these hoaxes will continue until a prominent politician becomes a victim. At that point, you will start to see state or federal legislation passed that requires Craigslist and similar sites to impose rigid screening processes for listings. That’s a shame because it will fundamentally change what Craigslist is about. Too bad there are people evil enough to post these hoax listings and others stupid enough to use them as a reason to commit crimes.

Hat tip to KGW.com.

About the Author

With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 14 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young shows entrepreneurs how to protect and grow their businesses online. He's the author of "Internet Marketing Legal Secrets Revealed," "How to Create Your Own Internet Business Without a Lawyer for Under $175," and the creator of Website Legal Forms Generator^TM. Not just a lawyer who focuses exclusively on Internet and marketing law, Mike’s been working with computers for more than 27 years (his first computer was an Atari 400 with 8 KiB RAM) and started representing Internet businesses back in 1996.