05-18-2007, 09:37 AM
Quote:When you run a roommate-matching service, you need to be careful about what questions you ask, as Roommates.com has just learned the hard way. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday (PDF) that the service did not qualify for a Safe Harbor under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The case now goes back to a lower court, where Roommates.com could well be on the hook for violating the Fair Housing ActÂall because of a couple questions.
The CDA contains a Safe Harbor provision that functions much like the one in the DMCA. In both cases, online service providers are not generally liable for the infringing or illicit content posted by their users, so long as the service providers are simply offering a set of tools. Once they get involved in shaping the content, though, they can lose this protection...
full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...berth.html