Posted on 06/19/2006 8:52:02 PM PDT by plan2succeed.org
Teen, Mom Sue MySpace.com for $30 Million; Suit Filed in Travis County Claims Popular Internet Site Fails to Protects Children From Adult Sexual Predators.
By Claire Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
A 14-year-old Travis County girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a Buda man she met on MySpace.com sued the popular social networking site Monday for $30 million, claiming that it fails to protect minors from adult sexual predators.
The lawsuit claims that the Web site does not require users to verify their age and calls the security measures aimed at preventing strangers from contacting users younger than 16 "utterly ineffective."
"MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online," said Adam Loewy, who is representing the girl and her mother in the lawsuit against MySpace, parent company News Corp. and Pete Solis, the 19-year-old accused of sexually assaulting the girl.
Hemanshu Nigam, the chief security officer for MySpace.com, said in a written statement: "We take aggressive measures to protect our members. We encourage everyone on the Internet to engage in smart web practices and have open family dialogue about how to apply offline lessons in the online world."
Founded in 2003, MySpace has more than 80 million registered users worldwide and is the world's third most-viewed Web site, according to the lawsuit.
Loewy said the lawsuit is the first of its kind in the nation against MySpace.
Solis contacted the girl through her MySpace Web site in April, telling her that he was a high school senior who played on the football team, according to the lawsuit.
In May, after a series of e-mails and phone calls, he picked her up at school, took her out to eat and to a movie, then drove her to an apartment complex parking lot in South Austin, where he sexually assaulted her, police said. He was arrested May 19.
The lawsuit includes news reports of other assault cases in which girls were contacted through MySpace. They include a 22-year-old Wisconsin man charged with six counts of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a 27-year-old Connecticut man accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
MySpace says on a "Tips for Parents" page that users must be 14 or older. The Web site does nothing to verify the age of the user, such as requiring a driver's license or credit card number, Loewy said.
To create an account, a MySpace user must list a name, an e-mail address, sex, country and date of birth.
"None of this has to be true," the lawsuit said.
Attorneys general from five states, including Texas, have asked MySpace.com to provide more security, the lawsuit said. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter to the MySpace.com chief executive officer May 22, asking him to require users to verify their age and identity with a credit card or verified e-mail account.
Lauren Gelman, associate director of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, said she does not think MySpace is legally responsible for what happens away from its site.
"If you interact on MySpace, you are safe, but if a 13-year-old or 14-year-old goes out in person and meets someone she doesn't know, that is always an unsafe endeavor," Gelman said. "We need to teach our kids to be wary of strangers."
Loewy said he was confident about the lawsuit, which he said seeks damages worth 1 percent of the company's estimated worth.
"We feel that 1 percent of that is the bare minimum that they should compensate the girl for their failure to protect her online when they knew sexual predators were on that site," he said.
cosborn@statesman.com; 445-3871
Use prostate or cervical cancer if you prefer. Use elephantitus if you want something that could both be the subject of serious research as well as unmeasurable entertainment for teens. Lets not even start about the latin word for 'with'.
Again the link a) is non responsive regarding the nature of the filtering technology and is data put up by those with an axe to grind. I don't believe them (I believe they're deluded). They can put up their software for the world to test. Untill they do I'm unconvinced.
Dinsdale, are you a librarian?
And at no point during these several hours did a single "this is a bad idea" neuron fire inside her numb skull?
And this is somehow the Internet's fault?
Please contact us if you have information we should consider as we bring this to the attention of the public
OK. Here's some information we should consider as we bring this to the attention of the public:
[ DEEP BREATH ]
START TAKING SOME RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND YOUR MINOR CHILREN'S EDUCATION IN HOW TO DO SO, YOU FREAKING MORONS!!
[ DEEP BREATH ]
Yep. The notion that people should sue some deep-pocketed corporation every time they suffer the consequences of their own stupidity is definitely a DUbious concept.
That's precisely the problem -- you want to have nothing to do with personal responsibiility, and recoil from the concept like Dracula in front of a garlic patch.
Well, duh. It has existed (and has been correct) ever since human beings were capable of understanding the concept that present actions affect future events, and will continue to exist (and continue to be correct) for as long as humans exist as rational creatures.
Really, the number of people here on FR who are unaware that the government has been routinely usurping parental prerogatives for decades can be counted on the fingers of one hand by Klutzo the (retired) Chainsaw Juggler.
BUMP
Is there a way to "fix" the "Religion" error and place it into the correct category?
Thanks. It appears to be fixed now.
Also, you obviously missed the part that I mentioned about keeping your child safe in a public place. NEVER LEAVE THEIR SIDE!!! NOT FOR ONE MOMENT!!! IT WILL PUT YOUR CHILD AT RISK!!! YOUR CHILD IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!! WATCH THEM ALWAYS!!! EVEN WHEN YOUR NOT THERE, HAVE SOMEONE YOU CAN TRUST TO DO THE SAME!!!
It is the fault of a perpetrator when a child is molested or harmed, that is indisputable. But the parent MUST take some responsibility for allowing that child to be put in a situation for them to have been harmed. That is my opinion. It is what I and many here would call COMMON SENSE!!! Which is highly lacking, mostly among deadbeat liberals and libertarians who want the government to take care of us and our children.
That is about the craziest thing I could think of. The last entity I would ever want having any responsibility over myself or my child is the government. They can't even take responsibility for their own actions most of the time, much less that of a childs.
It's pretty easy plan, my child will not be out of my sight, or the sight of an adult I trust with my life until she is 18 years old. Yep, you may think that's pretty strict, but I bet she never gets attacked by some sicko!! And if she does, I'll be close enough to ensure the he's the one with the broken neck, not my daughter.
plan, we are all aware of the "agendas" of organizations like the ALA and the NEA. It's quite obvious to many in FR that they don't have a care in the world for our childrens' well being either physically or emotionally. That's why the majority of us here who are parents very likely do things like a) teach their morals to their children, b) keep their children under responsible care at all times, and c) confront their educators and adults in authority when they feel those adults have failed in their responsibilities. I would actually bet on it. For those parents who don't do those things, I feel very sorry for their children.
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