Appeals Court Denies Safe Harbor for Roommates.com 253
Mariner writes "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Roommates.com Safe Harbor status under the Communications Decency Act in a lawsuit brought by the Fair Housing Councils of San Fernando Valley and San Diego. Roommates.com was accused of helping landlords discriminate against certain kinds of tenants due to a couple of questions on the Roommates.com registration form: gender and sexual orientation. 'Though it refused to rule on whether Roommates.com actually violated the Fair Housing Act, the Court did find that it lost Section 230 immunity because it required users to enter that information in order to proceed. As Judge Alex Kozinski put it in his opinion, "if it is responsible, in whole or in part, for creating or developing the information, it becomes a content provider and is not entitled to CDA immunity."'"
Look, I just wanted a normal male roommate (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Look, I just wanted a normal male roommate (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like an appropriate decision (Score:2, Insightful)
Not at all an appropriate decision (Score:5, Insightful)
> screening process can possibly be considered a common carrier under anyone's definition of the term.
You are correct... as far as that reasoning goes. But the CORRECT ruling (yea, good luck getting a sane ruling in CA) would have been to toss the case on the grounds that neither the "Fair Housing Act" nor the CDA pass Constituitional muster. The CDA fails on 1st and 10th Amendment grounds and the FHA on 10th. So it should have been tossed back into state courts.
Listen up pinheads, people have the right to be wrong. At least 'wrong' from your point of view. Since Stallman already has claimed Freedom Zero call this one Freedom -1. For if you claim the right to tell someone they are wrong and must agree with you, you are asserting yourself as their master. And the odds approach 100% that sooner or later everyone else is going to think one of your cherished beliefs/practices is 'wrong' and impose their will on you. And having given up the principles of Freedom you will have no moral argument to offer as to why you should be left in peace.
Tolerence isn't allowing people you agree with to do things you approve of, it is permitting people you don't like to do things you disapprove of so long as they don't use force or fraud against others. Yes that means yo have to tolerate the intolerant sometimes.
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I cannot deny you a job because I don't like your non work related lifesyle.
I cannot deny you a place to live over things that don't directly affect me.
And that is why it's only fair that certain questions cannot be asked of potential tennants.
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Am I the one hiring you? Then I can deny you a job for any reason I please. Example: I am denying you a job right now (assuming you don't currently work for me, which I think is likely :). You can't make me hire you, regardless of why you think I'm not.
Am I the one renting or selling you the place? Then I can in fact choose not to rent or sell for any r
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When you are engaging in commerce, your freedoms can be abridged.
That's _interstate_ commerce (Score:2)
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Incidentally, I'm perfectly willing to concede that case law, SCOTUS decisions, etc. are against me on this. But that still doesn't make it a fundamental human right.
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It actually, per the case law, covers all activities which might reasonably impact interstate markets; this includes activities not commercial in themselves (such as, at the outer extreme, growing wheat—the textbook example—or marijuana—from a more recent case—at home for one's own personal consumption).
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If you want to have rights, you must relinquish the "right" to force others to do what you want. Conversely, if you force others to do what you want, you will eventually lose all your rights, because they will expect to be able to do the same.
How would things be different if everybody understood this? I would expect a drastic reduction in wars,
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Throughout history there have been people who for whatever reason want to take advantage of others so we are stuck making laws to prevent that. Laws that are supposed to make people play nice together. For instance I'm not allowed to just walk up and punch you in the face no matter how good an idea I think that is.
My right to do what I want doesn't infringe on your right to live without being punched in the face.
Employment and housing laws are to make su
Re:Not at all an appropriate decision (Score:5, Informative)
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Unless a novel Constitutional argument was made, that would have been an incorrect ruling by the appeals court, since, any merits of the past Constitutional arguments that have been made and rejected by the Supreme Court aside, the most common Constitutional arguments against those acts have been made previously, and
"Force or fraud against others" (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the problem here is the definition of "force". In a very real way, discriminating landlords are "forcing" potential tenants to live somewhere else. I don't think of it as much different from making black people sit at the back of the bus. (Yes
Roommates.com (Score:2, Interesting)
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Well at least thats better than not reading the comments one is responding to:
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oh wait =)
Probably why the parent wanted to hear from a USER of the site, not parroting. However, I'd be amazed if a ruling like that went through with the initial premise being exactly the opposite.
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2. They aren't necessarily landlords. Roommates.com splits profiles into "I have a room" and "I'm looking for a room." Those in category two might be landlords, but they are often renters looking to fill a vacancy in their rented house or set up a sublease.
Re:Roommates.com (Score:4, Informative)
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I'm not sure it would make a legal difference whether they were optional or not. Prospective employers are legally prohibited from asking for photographs from job applicants, presumably to avoid problems discrimination.
Imagine if this were weakened to "employers cannot demand but may request photographs from job applicants". It wouldn't be too long until anyone needing a job who isn't a member of Suppressed Minority X is sticking photographs on their résumés. Then the
Re:Roommates.com (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a bit of a difference between a corporate-owned, professionally-managed apartment complex selecting applicants for leases, and a single person who needs a roommate in her apartment.
Do you think a 100lbs. single woman shouldn't be allowed to discriminate on the basis of gender when she's selecting roommates? If so, then you are a loon.
As far as I'm concerned, people should be able to pick whomever they want as their roommate, using any criteria they want.
Re:Roommates.com (Score:5, Informative)
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And anyhow, it doesn't protect gays. Gays are not a protected class. I can put up a banner on one of my apartment buildings that says, "Not faggots allowed!" and while it would probably violate about a half dozen sign ordinances, it would be perfectly legal under fair housing laws.
On the other hand, if that banner said, "No blacks allowed!" I'd be in a world of hurt.
I can see how the judge could rule that way: sorta (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd much rather have missing fields
Re:I can see how the judge could rule that way: so (Score:2)
RFC 2606 (Score:2)
I used to use fake addresses on sites that required them before allowing you to download their otherwise free software. Then I came across one that bothered to do some test (probably a DNS lookup) and it rejected garibaldi(a)babylon5.earthforce.mil (for example) as an invalid domain.
Now when I use a fake address, it is at domains that not only allow you to do it, but also allow you to retrieve mail
Re:I can see how the judge could rule that way: so (Score:2)
I don't know what the problem is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Whenever you see ads in the paper for folks looking for roommates, you always see several things:
Female looking for female.
Male looking for female or male roommate
Gay man looking for roommate,
etc...
What's wrong with entering that information so you can be matched up with someone that you'll be compatible with?
If you were unknowingly matched up with a gay man, and you're a devout Evangelical Christian, boy, there's going to be some rough patches! The same goes with women who would feel really uncomfortable with rooming with a guy.
Geeze! Sometimes the law isn't realistic.
Re:I don't know what the problem is... (Score:5, Funny)
I smell sitcom!
Re:I don't know what the problem is... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:I don't know what the problem is... (Score:4, Informative)
What the court ruled is that it's not okay for a *landlord*, who is not living with the people, to discriminate on the basis of religion, race, creed, ethnicity, gender, etc. etc. So they are saying using an online roommate-finding website does not make it okay for a landlord to discriminate.
That's not what they're doing (Score:3, Interesting)
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1. Doesnt make sense because no landlords are involved in these transactions (at least from the examples given)
2. This is the 9th circuit (
Fair housing doesn't always apply (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm of the opinion that every time our elected leaders decide to make a new law, they should be required to remove a minimum of four existing laws from the books. Period. This would force our fearl
Re:I don't know what the problem is... (Score:5, Informative)
If you are going to be living with the person, then the fair housing act does not apply to you.
So, if you're actually looking for a roommate, then you can discriminate based on any criteria you want, including age, sexual preference, race, religion, hobbies, whether they'll sleep with you or not, etc.
The judge did not rule that they cannot ask about such things. The ruling was simply about Safe Harbor status. That is, since the information was required from the person looking for housing, and a landlord used it to find a tenant, and was found to have discriminated based on information furnished to them by roommates.com, then roommates.com could be found to be complicit in the discrimination. They could avoid this by making such fields optional, or by only passing along protected information to owners who will be sharing living space.
At least, that's my take from the article. I'm not a lawyer either, but I've been involved in a few court cases involving landlord/tenant law.
No more retirement communities? (Score:2)
SWF seeks SWF ads already illegal? (Score:2, Insightful)
But both under California law and under federal law, it's illegal to tell prospective roomates about one's roommate preference, even when it's legal to actually discriminate based on that preference. It's illegal to put out an ad saying "Single white female seeks same to share apartment" (that's expressing a preference based on race and marital status), or "lesbian pagan seeks same" (preference based on sexual orientation and religion) -- and it's illegal to say that to people in person.
This does seem pretty ridiculous, and clearly not very many people get in trouble for placing such ads, but there is some case law supporting it. In the roommates.com case, since they not only encouraged placing such statements, but seemingly also more-or-less required it, they were exposing themselves to liability. Plus, since they have much deeper pockets than your typical "SWF seeks
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So does this ruling mean I can't go looking for gay roomates on this site?
this is kindda goofy (Score:5, Insightful)
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So yeah, if you are an 18 year old girl looking for housing in a new city where you will be attending college, go a head and discriminate against creepy 36 year old guys. You're allowed to decide who you want to live with
However, if you are a landlord, and you don't want to rent to first-time renters, gays, unma
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If you forced everyone who entered your store to give their name, address, and a list of the valuables they kept in their car, and you passed that info out to anyone who bought a screwdriver from you, then no you shouldn't be insulated from th
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So what then does roommates.com have to do with any of this?
My understanding is that the issue that court decided on was whether it was okay to help landlords used roommates.com to discriminate, and if because if was marketed as roommate-finding site, and not a occupant- or tenant-finding site, it qualified for a "safe harbor" provision. The court decided that it doesn't matter what the site was intended by anyone to be used for; practicing housing discrimination with this website is still wrong. You can't do it just because you're doing it on a website.
Put another way, say I sell screwdrivers. The vast majority of people use my screwdrivers to fix things by driving in screws. But if some people use my screwdrivers to break into cars, should I be insulated from the lawsuits of car owners who were the victims of theft?
Sellin
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Does this kind of request for a roommate violate the Fair Housing Act? I sure hope not -- that just doesn't make any sense.
Oh boy! Hatecrimes R Us! (Score:3, Insightful)
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There is a reason we do this, and it isn't fitness.
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My moneys still on the fat redneck with high cholesterol.
Umm, why is that bad? (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm looking for a roommate, why shouldn't I be able to filter for gender and sexual orientation? For that matter, maybe I'm a racist jerk and don't want black or asian roommates. Isn't that my right, regardless of how silly it might seem to someone else?
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No, one couldn't (Score:2)
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Good, it should be (Score:2)
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Maybe it would be more cost-effective to install one of the waste disposal units in the kitchen sink. Or maybe put a laminated sign above the sink?
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Sucks that we have to limit personal liberty to get people to be civil to each other, but there ya go.
What's legal here (B.C.) (Score:3, Insightful)
The B.C. Residential Tenancy Act [gov.bc.ca] allows for three sorts of discrimination: age, when it's a property specifically for older folks. Disability, when it's a property specifically for disabled folks. And just about anything else (particularly gender and sexual orientation) when there are shared kitchens and bathrooms involved.
Little else matters. If you can pay the rent (and come by the money lawfully), they can't turn you down.
...laura
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I swear, I sooo should move to Canada.
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True. "We don't like you" isn't part of the legislation. But if what they really meant was "We don't rent to queers", or something similar, you are protected.
...laura
Seemingly verrides Carafano v. Metrosplash.com (Score:5, Interesting)
As regards violating the Fair Housing Act, there is a shared living exception [hud.gov]. It seems to me that if roommates.com added a "shared living" checkbox to its form, it could AJAX-open the additional fields regarding gender and sexuality, and thus avoid falling afoul of the FHA. Roommates.com would still not be covered by the Section 230 exception of the Communications Decency Act, but it wouldn't need it.
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This then presents a simple legal solution for roommates.com which from a practical point of view is no different from the current site: Just make the options male, female, and unspecified. People can continue to search for male/female roommates (or unspecified if you don't car
What the hell (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope they are atleast suing the landlords that were abusing this info. Thats the problem with information on the net, its accessible to everyone, weather they should have it or not. I understand nailing landlords to the cross for abusing this info, but I totaly fail to understand how this is the websites fault for supplying the information. Its even submitted by the people themselves...its not like it wasn't wanted to be known..
I Don't See the Problem (Score:2, Insightful)
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Now I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath house that I bought so I can one day grow into it with someone (Plus resale value on a 1 bedroom house isn't great). In the mean time it'd be great to have someone help pay my mortgage and split the bills. Even 1 roommate at $400 / month + utilities is going to cut my bills in half and cut my mortgage payment by 1/3. We b
Personal question, if you don't mind (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Personal question, if you don't mind (Score:4, Funny)
(I think that might be the reason they started requiring gender in ads for roommates...)
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Wow. Just, wow.
As you said yourself, "roommate", not "potential mate". So why would a straight male "certainly" not be an option? Next you'll be saying that a girl with a boyfriend, and a single male should not live together either. After all, her unavailability to him is, y'know, an incompatabi
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Long answer:
If she doesn't want a straight man to live with her that's her specific preference and her right to control her environment.
If someone is a homophobic do they have to accept a homosexual roommate?
Your statement "So why would a straight male "certainly" not be an option?" completely ignores that some people don't like straight males and have every right not to want to live with them.
You even state "Or heaven forbid that time I h
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Wrong in principle, right in practice. That's what I love about modern doublespeak!
Look, the argument you've made completely disproves the notion that discrimination is wrong in principal. It isn't, any more than censorship is "wrong in principal". What you believe, which is what almost everyone believes, is that certain types of discrimination are wrong. O
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A landlord, however, is not allowed to discriminate on certain categories, such as race, age, sexuality, or religion.
The whole gist of this case is that landlords were utilizing a site specifically designed for finding
Very bad ruling (Score:2)
It has always been standard that for arranging things like roommates, dates, marriages, etc, that being able to not only select the gender and sexual orientation of the other party or parties is normal. It's not even considered discrimination. Remember, this is for a roommate arrangement (very personal). It is not for a landlord/tenant relation (strictly business).
I would also suggest that selecting a roommate, date, or lifelong partner based on their religious belief (or lack thereof) is equally person
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Re:Very bad ruling (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd just like to point out how the word "discrimination" has been hijacked. Discrimination is a good, useful, and necessary thing. Whenever you make a choice about something being better than something else, that's discrimination. You want and need to discriminate.
For particular reasons, discrimination based on certain factors (race, color, religion, sex, and national origin) for certain purposes (housing, voting, employment, and public services) has been made illegal. Any other kind is perfectly legal.
Here, you've assumed that any kind of discrimination is bad. You're talking about illegal discrimination.
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Some (but not all, IIRC) of the prohibitory provisions were either struck down or limited in applicability by the Supreme Court.
The safe harbor provisions, which provide a liability shield which extends to liability under other laws (pretty much all other laws that turn on the status of "publisher or speaker"), not just the prohibitory provisions of the CDA,