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No repercussions, because being a common carrier is voluntary. What I mean is, you can have a members only club that is not a common carrier. For instance a me
by bilbo0s 3y ago
No repercussions, because being a common carrier is voluntary.
What I mean is, you can have a members only club that is not a common carrier. For instance a member of the hypthetical video snippet network SnipWit can communicate only to other SnipWits. This means that SnipWit is not a common carrier. They are obviously private, as you can only communicate to other members. Worse yet, there is obviously consideration required prior to use, which means they would be able to add even more draconian terms to their membership requirements.
I'll give a hypothetical. CostCo is members only. You're not a member, you can't get groceries there. Full stop. It doesn't matter if it's the only grocer in your area, you'll have to drive to find a Kroger. And to illustrate what I mean by the ability to take things further, CostCo could add racial exclusivity requirements to their membership clauses. Blacks would then be barred from shopping there like they are barred from certain country clubs. And it would be totally legal and well within the rights of CostCo, those country clubs, or the hypothetical SnipWit. Why? Because these are all private organizations and members only.
I guess what I mean is, a lot of people talk about Common Carrier being the solution while forgetting about the private/public aspect and distinction at play in those regulations. We normally entice organizations to become common carriers by offering them goodies on the other side of that. Like indemnifications for instance. But what happens when you have organizations that are already fat, happy and growing like weeds under their "private with membership" umbrella? What do you offer them? It's a tough problem. There's a lot of people and shareholders making a lot of money in the current model. Those people will almost certainly vote their shares against becoming a common carrier unless there is more upside in it for them somehow.
- nradov 3y agoYou have misinterpreted the case law. Although Costco requires a membership to shop there, courts have generally found such places to be public accommodations rather than true private clubs. Thus, they would be legally barred from instituting a racial exclusivity requirement for membership. (I am only commenting on the strict legal issue here; obviously racial discrimination is morally wrong.) https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/good-question-why-can-some-clubs-discriminate/ https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/good-question-why-can...