Carafano v. Metrosplash.com is an American legal case dealing with the protection provided an internet service provider under the Communications Decency Act (CDA United States Code Title 47 section 230(c)(1). It is also known as the Star Trek Actress case as Ms. Carafano was well known for appearing on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Pictures of the actress and singer are widely available on the internet under her stage name Chase Masterson. This case demonstrates that the use of an online form with some multiple choice selections does not override the protections against liability for the actions of users or anonymous members of a web-based service.

Facts

An unidentifiable person in Berlin created a bogus matchmaking profile for Christianne Carafano on Matchmaker.com, an online dating service. In the profile the name Chase was used, with her photograph and her home address (even though listed home addresses was not allowed under Matchmaker.com policies). The profile also used a Yahoo email autoresponder which provided her physical address and telephone number in response to queries. She received several sexually suggestive voice mail messages and a fax which she found "highly threatening and sexually explicit" and "that also threatened her son". As a result Carafano felt threatened and remained away from her home living in hotels and traveling with her son for several months.

Case history

Ms. Carafano sued in California state court on the grounds of defamation of character, misappropriation of the right of publicity, invasion of privacy and negligence. The defendants removed the case to federal district court and brought a motion for summary judgment. The District court judge [see: Carafano v. Metrosplash.com Inc., 207 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (C.D. Cal. 2002)] not only rejected the claim for the service provider immunity under the DCA, but Ms. Carafano's claims resounding in tort were also thrown out by the court as the service provider had not acted in any willful manner against Ms. Carafano and the court found that no duty of care existed between the service provider and Ms. Carafano.

Ms. Carafano appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court rejected the argument of the plaintiff that there would be liability on behalf of the internet service provider. They were not an information provider but merely allowed the public to post information on their web site. Simply providing a form with multiple choices does not create liability because the form requires a human to create the actual entry. It is the human input that creates the entry and the liability rests with the underlying contributor, not the information service provider.

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