Law-and-order Midwestern sheriff Tom Dart thinks the Internet is to blame for prostitution,* so he sued Craigslist to halt its flesh-peddling “erotic services” ads. But as we so sagely predicted, the earnest peace officer’s lawsuit had a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving the scrutiny of any self-respecting judge who knows that Web sites aren’t liable for what their users post online. And indeed, Illinois Judge John Grady was the warm hell to Dart’s snowball of a lawsuit, as he dismissed the case on summary judgment Tuesday. Judge Grady said that Sheriff Dart really can't hold Craigslist responsible for the ads, comparing it to a case decided by the Seventh Circuit, Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc. v. Craigslist Inc., which found Craigslist wasn't liable for housing ads that discriminated against minorities:
Sheriff Dart’s lengthy complaint relies heavily on a few conclusory allegations to support the contention that Craigslist induces users to post ads for illegal services. Even at this stage of the case we are not required to accept those allegations at face value, and they are not meaningfully different from the allegations that our Court of Appeals rejected just last year. The complaint’s remaining allegations plainly treat Craigslist as the publisher or speaker of information created by its users. Like the plaintiff in Chicago Lawyers, Sheriff Dart may continue to use Craigslist’s website to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content.
Although the good sheriff lost the legal battle, he did get Craigslist to scale back its rampant sale of sex just a little. Next project: End old age by suing the AARP.
— Zusha Elinson
* Does that mean Al Gore invented hookers?
It’s funny how Craigslist.com has implemented ways to prevent this, but what is even funnier is that there are still relevant ads like this on Craigslist.com. Recently I found http://www.allofcraigslist.com and did Craigslist.com searches to find that there are still hundreds of thousands of ads posted that should not be…lol
Regards,
Craig Patterson
Posted by: Craig Patterson | February 05, 2010 at 11:52 AM