Thomas Dart, Sheriff of Cook County, Ill., filed a lawsuit this morning in federal court alleging that online classified site Craigslist is a public nuisance for facilitating prostitution. The sheriff wants an injunction, compensatory and punitive damages, and his attorneys' fees.
The complaint is rhetorical gem and a black eye for Craigslist, painting the Web site as a multi-million dollar enterprise that is, allegedly, indifferent to the fact that it is carrying a very high volume of classified ads for prostitution. Such as "The Polaris Project, a group against human sexual trafficking, believes Craigslist is not the single largest source for prostitution, including child exploitation, in the country." And "To say Craigslist's `erotic services' forum makes prostitution accessible is an understatement." And "Craiglist's erotic services offers to and does arrange meetings of persons for the purpose of prostitution."
Craigslist carries over 30 million new classified ads each month, and receives no revenue whatsoever by carrying ads in its "erotic services" forums. Policing the classified advertisements it carries would seem to be nearly, if not absolutely, impossible.
What about online computer services' federal immunity for third-party content under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act? Wouldn't Craigslist qualify for that? It's a good question. The relevant cases are Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Craigslist, 519 F.3d 666 (7th Cir. 2008), and Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com LLC, 521 F.3d 1157 (9th Cir. 2008). In Chicago Lawyers' Committee, the Web site was deemed “merely [a] distributor of content” and thus not liable for discriminatory housing ads. In Roommates, however, the Ninth Circuit said that the Web site was partially responsible for the creation of discriminatory housing notices because the site encouraged illegal content by asking users to input answers to specific questions about gender and family status.
In this latest case, the sheriff is essentially making the argument that what Craigslist is doing is more like the Roommates case than the Chicago Lawyers' Committee case. By setting up a section on its Web site for "erotic services" and designating 21 categories under it based on sexual preference, Craigslist is encouraging the posting of unlawful content, namely, ads for prostitution.
In addition to the nuisance claim, there are other claims that Craigslist is promoting prostitution and engaging in federal racketeering.
I've posted a copy of the complaint in Cook County (Ill.) Sheriff v. Craigslist Inc., No. 09-1385 (N.D. Ill., filed 3/5/09) here.
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