It was only a matter of time:
A Chicago fair housing group has sued groundbreaking Web site Craigslist for allegedly publishing discriminatory advertisements, a case that could test the legal liabilities of online ad venues.
The suit is part of an emerging attempt by housing watchdogs nationally to hold online classified sites to the same strict standards as the publishers of print classifieds, such as newspapers.
The suit is potentially significant because it suggests that the rules for an Internet site should be the same as for a traditional publisher, in which every ad should be vetted to conform with the law. But that notion contradicts the way the Internet has blossomed, where informal communities tend to police themselves and free expression is valued.
The people behind suits like this are the same sort of people, who, if given the chance, would happily make laws about what sort of toilet paper should be allowed, how big your car should be and what colors it would be available in, and millions of other areas of life that when added up would mean just one thing: the nation you live in is NOT the home of the free.
If the state can decide how you are allowed to use your property by telling you who you must rent too, then how long will it be before the state tells you who you may mate with, or how many children you are allowed to produce or what job you will be doing throughout your adult life? It sounds farfetched, but it isn’t. We are halfway there.
These people always operate under the banner of fairness and equal rights, but the way I see it, forcing people not to discriminate is just a way of trading something unpalatable for something even less palatable. I would rather put up with a few bigots than be controlled by busybodies.
Incrementalism is the way to a Totalitarian Nanny State. I hope Craigslist beats the crap out of these housing Nazis. If they get control of the Internet, then the last frontier on Earth will have been conquered by the Nannys.
Hat tip: Instapundit