Vipul Patel is a property owner in the Chicago area who wants to sell his house. Zillow, Inc. (Zillow) is an online real estate database company that was founded in 2006 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of the Microsoft spin-off Expedia. Zillow assigns a “Zestimate” to every listing in its real  database, and each Zestimate is based on a computer- algorithm using public and user-submitted data. Mr. Patel alleges that the computer-generated Zestimate for his house is misleading and unfair because it is far below the fair market value of his home. He  Zillow either to increase the Zestimate for his house or to remove the listing from its database altogether. When Zillow refused to take either step, Mr.  sued Zillow, alleging that Zillow’s practice of listing and publicly posting property values without a license  fraudulent and constitutes an invasion of privacy. Among other things, Zillow argues in its defense that it is not breaking any laws and that it is simply exercising its right to free speech.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Can data generated by a computer algorithm be a form of commercial speech? Why or why not?

2. Should the government regulate business firms like Zillow? Why or why not?