I heard that there's a lawsuit that involves a classified ads site and a ticketbroker, but I'm going to consider this a rumor since no names will be mentioned. However, I searched "craigslist lawsuit" under Google and didn't see anything related to what this one person brought on one of the forums.
This is what I know about spamming. The CAN-Spam Act is a law that prohibits spam as in sending email to list who did not double opted-in (click here for more info). I don't know if this applies to free classified ads site since nothing is mentioned in that law.
If you double opted into getting updates to let's say something like my blog, i get to send you an email until you decide to unsubscribe.
However, there's no law that prohibits you from sending multiple ads on a free classified ads site or as many of us would say, Spam. The only thing that stands in our way is being compliant of the terms of use and violations of that would result in your account being removed from the system. A judge may try to make a ruling against those who try to post excessively, but it's most likely that they will leave it up to the classified ads site provider to decide on what to do about the poster.
Because most classified ads site is a public site, the only limit you will have is be subjected to the terms of service or terms of use of their service. If they say that you can't bad mouth a particular person, then you can't do that or you'll be in violation of the terms of use. These classified ads site may not limit you on what you put on that site, but remember, they have rules on what you do when you join their party. That means you have to do it under their terms. Otherwise, you will get kicked out of the party.
Note that the CAN-SPAM Act applies only to email. It doesn't apply to posting on public web sites like forums, classified ads site, etc. If a judge tries to rule that you can't post excessively on a classified ads site, he must cite which law does that apply to. As far as I know, he would have to site the 1st Amendment. However, the classified ads site provider has the right to protect their sites from excessive posting through the use of the terms of service, but it must not conflict with what may be offensive to users, posters, and others alike.
The above is based on my opinion. Your opinion may be different and I'm always open to change that stance as it's deemed necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment