Posted on 01/18/2007 10:17:32 AM PST by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
NEW YORK (AP) -- Four families have sued News Corp. and its MySpace social-networking site after their underage daughters were sexually abused by adults they met on the site, lawyers for the families said Thursday.
The law firms, Barry & Loewy LLP of Austin, Texas, and Arnold & Itkin LLP of Houston, said families from New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina filed separate suits Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging negligence, recklessness, fraud and negligent misrepresentation by the companies.
"In our view, MySpace waited entirely too long to attempt to institute meaningful security measures that effectively increase the safety of their underage users," said Jason A. Itkin, an Arnold & Itkin lawyer.
The families are seeking monetary damages "in the millions of dollars," Itkin said.
"Hopefully these lawsuits can spur MySpace into action and prevent this from happening to another child somewhere," he said.
MySpace, based in Los Angeles, did not immediately return calls for comment.
Critics including parents, school officials and police have been increasingly warning of online predators at sites like MySpace, where youth-oriented visitors are encouraged to expand their circles of friends using free messaging tools and personal profile pages.
MySpace has responded with added educational efforts and partnerships with law enforcement. The company has also placed restrictions on how adults may contact younger users on MySpace, while developing technologies such as one announced Wednesday to let parents see some aspects of their child's online profile, including the stated age. That tool is expected this summer.
The lawyers who filed the latest lawsuits said the plaintiffs include a 15-year-old girl from Texas who was lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to sexual assault.
The others are a 15-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, a 14-year-old from upstate New York and two South Carolina sisters, ages 14 and 15.
Last June, the mother of a 14-year-old who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old user sued MySpace and News Corp., seeking $30 million in damages. That lawsuit, pending in a Texas state court, claims the 19-year-old lied about being a senior in high school to gain her trust and phone number.
News Corp. shares hit a new 52-week high of $24.07 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange before slipping back to $23.98, up 28 cents.
Indifferent parents out for easy money.
It's time then to sue the big 3 auto makers for all the drunk drivers they sell cars to who then kill or injure innocent drivers.
They didn't sue the computer manufacturer, the software companies or the ISP? Maybe that comes later.
Have to agree with you.
They didn't have the time to keep an eye on their kids, but they've got plenty of time to meet with the lawyers and play the lawyer lottery after the damage to their kids is done.
Good luck - meant sarcastically. Doubt they can be held responsible - they were just the "messengers" or "carriers," not content providers.
The controls are there. If these kids can program their own profiles, they can tick a box that makes their profiles inaccessible to non-friends.
To say nothing of the fact that
1) they agreed to meet these predators
2) their parents did nothing to stop them.
I will make a running bet that their children have,
$30 million. Where do you think she came up with figure from ?
This another way of saying "hopefully,these lawsuits can allow me to buy that little island off the Italian coast we've always wanted"
i noticed terrorist groups are popular on myspace as well.....i've reported this one...but i'm thinking that these dont deserve "freedom of speech " coverage and should be banned.......this is ridiculous...
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=103659445
Could the parents be sued for not paying more attention to what their children were doing online?
I am sure NewsCorp can hire good lawyers too. So forget the $30 million, I would like to see this mother jailed for 10 years for child abuse.
Remember that we're talking about an LA courtroom here.
Not myspace's fault. The parents will lose this one.
Lotto!!!
Please see post #15
Are your friends liberal ?
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