John Banzhaf has filed complaint against tech giant with D.C. Office of Human Rights claiming mass-blocking RNC emails constitutes "unlawful discrimination based upon political affiliation," denial of "full and equal enjoyment" of Gmail services.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/55349

The complaint by George Washington University’s John Banzhaf says he’s filed more than 100 successful complaints under the D.C. Human Rights Act, which does not require complainants to be “aggrieved” themselves and offers damages and attorney’s fees for violations.

The D.C. law does not require a “place of public accommodation” to maintain a “physical location in the District” or even charge for its services, if it provides them to a person in D.C. That covers Google, which also “maintains a massive and expensive physical lobbying presence in the District,” according to the complaint.

Crucially, the law also does not require complainants to show discriminatory intent. The statute prohibits “any practice which has the effect or consequence” of discrimination, which means even “a completely unexpected result of the programming and/or system design” can trigger liability, the complaint says.