Johannesburg

Saturday

Mostly cloudy. Cool.

10°C
17°C

7 day forecasts

Straight or gay? Site can't ask

2008-04-04 07:20

San Francisco - A roommate-finding site cannot require users to disclose their sexual orientation, a US appeals court ruled on Thursday, in the latest skirmish over whether anti-discrimination rules apply to the web.

The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Roommates.com, which obliges users to list their sexual orientation, was different than internet sites where people can volunteer or withhold personal information.

To inquire electronically about sexual orientation would not be different from asking people in person or by telephone if they were black or Jewish before conducting business, the panel said in an 8-3 ruling that partly overturns a lower federal court decision.

"If such screening is prohibited when practiced in person or by telephone, we see no reason why Congress would have wanted to make it lawful to profit from it online," 9th Circuit chief judge Alex Kozinski wrote. "Not only does Roommate ask these questions, Roommate makes answering the discriminatory questions a condition of doing business."

Arizona-based Roommates.com says it offers more than 100 000 rental listings on its site across the United States and is owned by Roommate.com LLC.

"This decision represents a significant departure from what has been settled law across the country," defence attorney Timothy Alger said. "We believe the government has no business regulating the selection of roommates or advertising for roommates."

The court contrasted such requests for information with online search engines such as Google, which could allow people to search for terms such as "white roommate".

'Close cases'

"Websites are complicated enterprises, and there will always be close cases where a clever lawyer could argue that something the website operator did encouraged the illegality," Kozinski wrote. "Such close cases, we believe, must be resolved in favour of immunity."

"Where it is very clear that the website directly participates in developing the alleged illegality - as it is clear here with respect to Roommate's questions, answers and the resulting profile pages - immunity will be lost."

A Roommates.com section allowing users to add additional comments of their choosing is immune from liability as outlined in the 1996 Communications Decency Act, the San Francisco-based court found.

Congress "didn't intend to prevent the enforcement of all laws online", the court said. "Rather, it sought to encourage interactive computer services that provide users neutral tools to post content online to police that content without fear that ... they would become liable for every single message posted by third parties on their website," it said.

Three judges dissented, saying the court was creating a dangerous precedent and future confusion for internet firms.

"The majority's unprecedented expansion of liability for internet service providers threatens to chill the robust development of the internet that Congress envisioned," Judge Margaret McKeown wrote.

Roommates.com "should be afforded no less protection than Google, Yahoo, or other search engines".

- Reuters

inside news24

Weather
Traffic
Lottery
Cpt: 16-23°C Sunny. Mild. Pta: 12-19°C Light rain. Morning clouds. Cool.
Jhb: 10-17°C Mostly cloudy. Cool. Bloem: 10-22°C Light rain. Broken clouds. Cool.
Dbn: 17-25°C Sprinkles. More clouds than sun. Mild. PE: 18-27°C Sunny. Warm.
7 day forecasts...

Jobs - Find your dream job

PHP Developer

Western Cape - Cape Town
Hire Resolve

Senior Software Test Engineer

Western Cape - Cape Town
Hire Resolve

Pre Sales Senior Consultant

Gauteng - Midrand
Quiglies Solutions
R600,000-800,000 Per Annum Market Related Negotiable

Cars - Search 1000's of new and used cars

AUDI

2008 A4 1.8T Multitronics from R 269 000

BMW

120i (E87)
2005
R 159,990.00

VOLKSWAGEN

Polo 1.4 Comfortline 5-dr
2009
R 154,899.00

TOYOTA

Quantum 2.7 14-s Bus
2008
R 235,990.00

Property - Find a new home

VAN RIEBEECKSHOF

Single Residential R2,050,000

DWARSKERSBOS

Single Residential R1,600,000

BRYANSTON

Multiple Unit R2,500,000

Travel - Look, Book, Go!

Free Games - TOO MUCH NEWS? TAKE A BREAK!

Kalahari.net - shop online today

Great Festive Savings on Books

Up to 30% Off ALL Books. 2.3 million titles on SALE.

Sleek New iPod Range. Order Your's Now!

iPod nano 16GB - Black, Was R2,499.00 Now R2,299.00! Save R200!

Up to 40% off Fabulous Festive Flicks

46 000 DVDs and Blu-Ray on sale now! Pre-order Up and District 9!

Up to 20% off ALL Music

100s of festive new releases now in stock! Now, Bump 25, Bon Jovi & more!

1000s of Festive Toys on Sale

Lots of Toys, free gift wrap, lowest prices on Lego Mindstorm, Ben 10, Hannah Montana & more!

Hot Deal of the Day!

All DVDs on Sale

Up to 40% Off 46 000 Titles

District 9, UP, Ice Age, Transformers, Life & more!

Up to 40% Off Sale on All Books, Toys, CDs, DVDs & Games!