Teen, mom sue MySpace.com for $30 million

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/20myspace.html

"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.""

ok, now my two bits: utter bullshit, yet one more attempt to abrogate responsibility for one's own actions.

while one like "NYT: Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror" only has about 12!
Tssk, tssk...

i wonder who......

...if News Corp is the parent company. There's some irony in there, somewhere. I'm sure of it.

It is a free web service that you use at your own risk and if you have children it is YOUR job to monitor their activities.

It is indeed sad when BITCHES like this woman pull this kind of shit and the right wing crooks get to use this as a reason to take away the rights of people to file
legitimate suits.


You're a money grubbing whore lady and so is the lawyer representing you.

Seriously?? Parental responsiblity? Anyone?

And probably abusing drugs

Link? Quote?

Or are you just contending that single mothers are a bunch of drunken, drugged out miscreants?

Oh, and can you find anyplace in any of the articles on this where it mentioned the dad?

I view my kids' pages regularly, and I make them revise things and take off anything that'll point someone to where they are and live. I also make them take off anything THEY say that's crude, or anything someone else says that is.

A 14-year-old girl in our town was molested by an older guy she met on MySpace. I'm very sorry for her, but SHE gave out personal information, she agreed to meet him, and she was dumb enough to get in his car. The rest was history.

Aside: One of my daughters had an online "relationship" with a young guy who lives half the country away. She liked him, he liked her as much as you can like someone when you've never met them.

On Valentine's day, flowers come to our home. From him. "HOW DID HE GET OUR ADDRESS?????" Her FRIEND gave it to him. So, after reading the riot act, my kids have schooled their friends as well. The kid was harmless, but I explained to my daughter that he just as well could have been a 50-year-old pervert, OR an 18-year-old desperate kid who'd take Greyhound from the middle of the country to here and show up on our doorstep.

Never again will my kids be so naive.

Seriously?? Father's responsibility? Anyone?

Where was the mother when her child was making dating arrangements? This kinda stuff does screw people out of legitimate lawsuits

WHERE was this kid's Mother? It isn't MySpace's job (I don't care WHO owns it) to watch people's kids for them. If someone is going to be a parent, they should take responsibility for their own damn kids. Mom's negligence is what's at fault here.

Hmm, where's daddy in all this?

I don't believe in the lawsuit, but people react to grief in different ways. She and (especially) her daughter deserve some room.


And often asking for a large amount of money is a tactic to promote settlement or other actions (such as making the site more secure). There are ways that MySpace could be safer. For instance, don't include the city or state in a minor's page. Only let contact information be printed for people with credit cards. I'm not saying that it's myspace's responsibility, but that it is not helpless to create a safer environment.

By creating an account with MySpace you in agreement with its policies namely that it is NOT their responsibility if you are negligent enough to display your personal information or if you allow your child to do so.

Myspace is NOT under the law in ANY way much less do they have any obligation to provide any such protections. It is not funded by your tax dollars and it does not generate profit from private sources.

We don't need to tell people like the founder of Myspace that they need to be more responsible-PARENTS need to start being more responsible ADULTS need to start being more responsible. This isn't anywhere near a case where the big bad guy ripped off the little guy. Like I said Myspace is a FREE service NOT funded by the government in anyway.

Myspace does not conduct any sort of marketing that tells children to join up and tell the world who they are. People are free to display as little as information as they want, and if they are incapable of bearing this "harsh" responsibility then either they are children whose parents should be supervising them anyway, or they are too negligent and irresponsible to partake in such an endeavor that they should avoid the site completely.

Myspace already takes the responsibility to remove vulgar or obscene postings and pages from its servers-that in my opinion is being more responsible than they even need to be.


What's more I don't see anyone suing porno sites when any child who knows how to type in "porn" could have complete access to thousands of adults pictures and videos given the fact that the vast majority of parents will never take time to learn how to censor websites.

This woman was negligent with her child and the fault of this tragedy lies with her and the attacker. Her daughter is indeed a victim of this, however suing a NON-PROFIT read it again NON-PROFIT organization for the actions of some sick bastard is clearly a cry of opportunity not closure.

When people start to call for other parties to take the responsibility that adults should be taking concerning how to deal with innovations and ideas that promote a wider spread of communication they are laying the grounds of censorship.

http://collect.myspace.com/misc/advertise.cfm?MyToken=5ba84363-7d77-4dcf-9cb4-c517301a822a


I expect that they are making plenty of money.

edit: typo

not MySpace.

to the den of the preditor?

How much supervision does her mom provide?

The only up side of this is the pain it will give the GOP as they try to balance PROTECTING THE CHILDREN! with their cries for 'tort reform' and their push to keep citizens from using the courts. Now THAT could be a fun side show.

with a complete stranger. I feel sorry for the girl. That would be bittersweet money.

I just heard about a guy who got turned down for a job because he posted some disgusting personal details about himself on myspace.

I think these people should just take their lessons and shut up.

Anything posted ANYWHERE on the 'net are googleable and can be used against you AT ANY FUTURE POINT.

Welcome to the 21st century.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence. :banghead:

This is another BS Law Suit, brought by Republicans, against the Republican dominated News Corp, and you can bet your ass that Republicans will exploit this bogus lawsuit by blaming it on Democrats.

.....delay is from houston, a couple hours east of travis county.

...he was himself indicted for money-laundering by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5238575>

...DeLay, like Bode Miller, has not been doing especially well of late. Coming off admonishments from the House ethics committee and garnering his lowest winning percentage since he first came to Congress -- 55 percent -- in 2004, the Republican from Sugar Land has since found himself indicted in a money-laundering case back in Texas that automatically cost him his leadership post; seen his once-close pal Jack Abramoff plead guilty in a federal bribery case; and, finally, decided a return to the leadership was not feasible. DeLay and his allies blame the Texas indictment on a partisan Democratic prosecutor, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle....



<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_22nd_congressional_district>

So, this is confusing, why was he indited in Travis County if he's not from there?

DeLay's seat is in Fort Bend County. But he had fingers in pies all over the place. Austin is the seat for state government. It probably something to do with his PAC or something.

fsc

Sugarland, the whitest of whitebread suburbs of houston.

"This is another BS Law Suit, brought by Republicans, against the Republican dominated News Corp, and you can bet your ass that Republicans will exploit this bogus lawsuit by blaming it on Democrats."

:eyes:

Not everything is political.

...political, especially when you are talking about Texas Republicans, who are the worst of the worst in regards to partisan politics.

Texas Republican leaders (or at least the ones that admire Tom Delay) are bad to the bone, take no prisoners, evil bastards.

But they are also very bad liars, and they tend to use the same evil tactics over and over when they work the first time. This is not the first time they've done this sort of scam.

You'll see, the truth will eventually come out.

but I won't hold my breath.

Lets not forget the 16 year old is the VICTIM. . .

What people here are questioning is whether or not it is MySpace's fault.

which is why this is even news at all.

When it is so much easier to demonize everyone BUT the child molesters? HAH!

There is a very, very small group that thinks sex with minors is okay... but we're talking about 2-5 people. I've been reading DU since the beginning, and I have never seen posters excuse molesters and pedophiles.

who are blaming this 14 year old, who in reports of pedophilia would be considered a child, for going out and "getting herself raped" by a child molestor.

And a few who are blaming mom for being too drunk and drugged out to properly supervise her daughter.

Whole lotta' missing the lawyer's role in this, too.

for not protecting her child. Maybe, she shouldn't have allowed her child to put personal information on the Internet to begin with.

But Myspace is NOT the perpetrator.

MySpace is not the perpetrator.

But this is not about playing 'who's the victim'. The crime was the statutory rape of a 14 year old and it seems that the criminal has been found and justice of sorts served.

This is about suing myspace because it has deep corporate pockets and offers a communication service that the victim and the perpetrator used to connect with each other. As services like myspace are new, the purveyors of fear exploit the novelty to scare us and the ambulance chasers run to the courts for the chance to extract rent from the deep corporate pockets. Myspace didn't rape anyone.

...but as most kids are wont to do, she did not totally think through ALL the implications of meeting in person a stranger she had dealings with online. Not blaming the kid at all for that, and I don't think anybody else here is, either. Our issue is with the small matter of parental guidance and responsibility, which appears to be lacking, based on the info posted. MySpace isn't going away, neither are other such Websites. Just one more wakeup call to us parents to make sure we know where our teens are online at all times, and that we tell our kids the possible bad implications of posting personal stuff online, as well as meeting in person anyone you talk to online.

Doesn't take much effort to put the computer in an open space in the home, look over the shoulder of your kid while he or she is typing away on a site, and ask questions about what they are doing and where they are on the Web. Hell, I do it everyday.

but completely true. These kids have had it drummed into them by teachers, DARE officers etc. the dangers of meeting people on the internet. Mom is more to blame, but the kid is pretty dumb too.

They are kids. They sometimes do not think, nor consider all the possible consequences of their behavior. That hardly qualifies her as being a "moron." She is a teen-ager, a young teen-ager at that. All the more reason why Mom should have been more vigilant with the kid's computer time. If you're looking for someone to blame, blame the parent. Not the kid, not MySpace.

Because that's what 14 year olds do...they know they can't trust anyone at all.

And every girl should know she is responsible for the fact that she is potentially dealing with a "man" who has absolutely no control over his monstrous sexual appetites and that she should control them for him. Because the "man" has no responsibility for his monstrous sexual appetites.

Yep, it's the girl who's to blame.

nt

Why not sue the rapist?

Sounds like Mom is just into it for the money.
Why else would she focus on a party who truely has no responsibility in the matter?

Hell, in that case she should sue herself!:silly:

person. The victim that willingly climbed in this person's car. Yes, she is the victim, but also bears--along with her parents--some responsibility.

for all of society's ills? Before that it was Elvis Presley.
Now it's MySpace.

...but I am something of a fuddy-duddy. ;)

Figure out a way to verify it and DO IT.

An 18+ site would not attract any pedos...problem solved. However, the stalkers will remain.

They get very heavy use from people under 18--because it almost seems like that was the original intent, to give teens someplace cool on the Internets. Kicking all of them off would cause someone to set up MyStuff.com or something like that for the kids to move to, and all the MySpace problems would move to MyStuff.

Here's the real problem: Parents love free babysitting services. In the 1960s, television was the free babysitter and everybody bitched about how television was raising their children to consume, consume, consume. Then we went to the 1970s and the Atari 2600 was the free babysitter. (Yes, I know Atari 2600s cost money...but once you've paid for the thing it's essentially free.) In the 1980s it was Nintendo. The 1990s brought us the vestiges of the Internet, and now we've got MySpace. The difference between the pre-90s free babysitters and the ones we've got now is that now the babysitter gets brought to your door in a green 1967 Chevelle with blue doors and a red hood, driven by a man who keeps offering your kids candy.

People, WATCH YOUR KIDS! That's the solution here.

The interface is shit, it's as slow as all hell, and it's packed with imbeciles. MySpace is for kids, and any adult that's there for any purpose other than selling their music to those kids is an idiot.

it's actually quite an effective marketing tool, it may have reached the point of diminishing returns by now, but I still find it pretty useful in terms of staying in touch with friends, colleagues, fans, and my favorite artists. i'm loathe to admit it, seeing's it's owned by news corp now, but wadayagonnado? :shrug:

edit: spelleng

I use it to keep in touch with friends and family both here in town and on the other side of the country. I work odd hours and it's easier to post a bulletin there than to send out emails or make a bunch of phone calls. 90% of my "friends" on there are my friends in the real world and were before MySpace came along. The other 10% are either bands or people that seemed cool that I added after seeing in some of the political groups there.

I do agree about the interface though. I went to one friends page and she had 2 videos plus a music player all trying to load at the same time.

Aren't you being just a little judgmental?

Sad that kids whose parents refuse to mind them will have ruined the fun for the kids who know better, but that's life, I suppose.

The parents abrogate responsibility for their child. So their child gets assaulted because of their neglect in supervision. Any lawyer should be able to win this case.

Believe it or not, this parent can be criminally charged with child neglect for failure to protect her child from online predators. If more parents were charged every time their children were assaulted by others, these lawsuits would never happen....

The new hotness? Xpeeps.com

please. Thank god I have good spyware.

but is Buda a town in Texas? If it's not, I don't know what the hell a Buda man is.

"McDonald's made me fat", "Myspace let me be sexually assualted", give me a freakin' break. There is no such thing as accountability left in this society.

What does everyone expect, look at the Bush administration.

Taking the blame is for suckers. That's the message Shrub and his buddies are putting out there.

Break the law? Who cares. Lie about every misdeed? That's normal.

Accountability isn't even practiced by accountants any more.

It's between Austin and San Marcos on Hwy 81. George Bush has a tiny vacation home there where he holds secret meetings with the Secretary of State.
(OK, I just made the last part up, but it sounds juicy).

She is a rape victim, not a "Jezebel," which is a sexist, outdated label. Reading up on the difference between rape and sex might help.

Fucking classic!:eyes:

she did do some pretty stupid stuff. Her parents were responsible for properly educating her on how to use the internet and ensuring that she isn't acting irresponsible on the web or in real life. They failed, and their daughter suffered for it.

for which rape should be the punishment?

Does that include boys, too? Men? Women?

Truth hurts sometimes but f*ck it! It is, what it is! Your ingnorace will not protect you from bad choices. Education is the key. The parents didn't know, the girl didn't know and well the sick perv , well he knew. Damn, I would be hurt if my little girl or anyone I knew BUT if I know you I tell you the Three Net commandments for kids. :

1. Post nothing about yourself that your mother wouldn't want others to know.

2. Know your age and act it.

3. YOu don't know, what you don't know so always don't rather than do (this is really one I tell everyone) !

Truth hurts sometimes but f*ck it! It is, what it is! Your ingnorace will not protect you from bad choices. Education is the key. The parents didn't know, the girl didn't know and well the sick perv , well he knew. Damn, I would be hurt if this happened to my little girl or anyone I knew BUT I'll tell you the Three Net commandments for kids that I have told me and mine:

1. Post nothing about yourself that your mother wouldn't want others to know.

2. Know your age and act it.

3. YOu don't know, what you don't know so always don't rather than do (this is really one I tell everyone) !

:wtf:

:thumbsdown:

does no one take responsibility for their own actions any more? Using myspace is something best done with regards to your own privacy. Christ what a country.

What would have been **totally** effective would have been mom monitoring the kid's use of the Internet. Responsible parenting? Nah, MUCH more easier to sue.

It will be interesting to see if this suit gains any traction.

Where the $#&@ is parental responsibility anymore?

:nuke:

It's not like parents can watch their kids 27x7 these days.

Most parents work full time outside the home.

You don't have to sit and look over their shoulder. Are you really not aware there are programs that will allow you to monitor internet use?

I do monitor my teenage daughter's internet use - but the programs I have explored are ineffective at screening out the places I don't want her to hang out in without also screening out places that are essential to completing research projects for school. As a simple example (not an exhaustive summary of the programs I have reviewed) in order to permit her to do any meaningful age appropriate research back when we were on AOL I had to grant her adult access (or at least mature teen) at age 10.

Effective monitoring either requires blocking all access when you can't be present to watch over their shoulders, or enough computer savvy to be able to follow the trails that are left. I generally rely on the latter, plus ample surprise appearances for over the shoulder looks, but most parents I have come in contact with (including some whose children have had bad experiences with myspace.com) aren't skilled enough for the latter.

Doesn't mean it isn't important, or a parental responsibility, but its not as simple as just slapping a program on the computer.

It requires monitoring. Reading over her interactions. There are programs that will record her every keystroke.

which was the issue raised by the post to which you were responding.

Keystroke review is a solution that takes nearly as much time (and likely, more initially) as looking over her shoulder - unless she is a very proficient typist who only types completely well formed thoughts in order without mistake.

C'mon... that's a pretty weak argument... unless the so-called parents are just letting the kid spend hours online every day. Which, really, wouldn't be too surprising, considering what we already know.

depending on other things going on, and has since she was 12-13. She does research for school averaging about an hour a day, and during the remaining hours she has taught herself web design from scratch (HTML, CSS, and Java - not using canned programs) - a skill that can provide reasonable fall back income should whatever she chooses as a primary career fall through. She is an artist and uses the computer (part online and part not) for her photography and animations. She has won awards for her art, and has sold some of her photographs, so I think it's probably time well spent. She also spends a fair amount of time on child friendly chat/gaming sites and IMing with her cousins who live hundreds of miles away - everyone deserves some down time.

The time she spends online is so damaging to her that she is currently tied for the top student of her class, is in a select singers group, takes 2-3 dance classes a week, assists dance classes for younger students, participates in drama programs at school, and volunteers for the local park system.

I guess I'm one of those "so-called parents," and no, I don't have time to monitor 2-5 hours worth of keystrokes a day.

I know what she does because I am computer savvy enough to be able to track where she has been using the various trails she necessarily leaves - and I do periodically check. I also periodically pop in on her unannounced, and I trust what she tells me about what is going on in her life because we have an honest and open relationship. None of those three are necessarily available to all parents. My choice of my own career provides the computer savvy, we happen to be lucky enough to have a two parent home with one of us home most of the time to permit pop in visits, and my daughter (so far) has been blessed with a temperament which has permitted the honest and open relationship to continue well into her teens, something that seems to me pretty rare.

To answer comments you made in other parts of this thread, library access to computers is not sufficient to meet today's academic requirements. In our case, the library is 5+ miles away, not open most evenings after I get home and we eat, and my daughter (and the 14 year old in question) don't yet drive - meaning that it requires at least an hour and a half a day of parent time for the kind of online and/or computer requirements imposed on my daughter by her school.

I'm not saying the parent in question shouldn't have exercised better control - but the solution is not as simple as simple as slapping a program (keystroke or other) on the computer - and yes, myspace.com bears some of the blame (both from a legal (COPPA) and a moral perspective).

this is getting *beyond* ridiculous!

it's EASY to monitor logs... you get one that logs the URLs and the times they were accessed, cross reference that with the keystroke logs, and then only review the portions of the text you need to be concerned about

most kids have online access IN school, so this whole side-argument about how haaaaaard it is is just ANOTHER red herring

if myspace shares blame due to COPPA then the lawsuit will bear that out

i'll sit back and watch while it DOESN'T

but it doesn't match reality in either the school system I taught in or the one my daughter attends (or any other system with which I am familiar). The extent of access in school is very limited - 20-35 kids (depending on class size) sharing one or two computers for a 45 minute class period for a couple of periods each week (since teachers do have to cover subject matter most of the time). Hard to average an hour a day of access per student under those conditions.

I think you need a reality check about the amount of computer access that is routinely expected from middle school on these days, and the realistic amount of access the school can provide.

...and now since I have raised legitimate concerns about monitoring programs and keystroke logging, you add URL logs. Getting pretty complex and time consuming, given your initial suggestion of an easy solution, which is my point. The solution is not as simple as you want to pretend it is.

FWIW, myspace's attorneys apparently have a decent grasp on reality, as myspace has already announced changes in their procedures to better comply with COPPA.

Giving kids that much homework that requires mandatory online time without any access to computers is just stupid. What kind of messed up school system do you work with / deal with, anyway?

As for urls, reading isn't hard or time consuming... jeez louise! No, the solution isn't simple, but it's $#&*(@$ *necessary* if you want to be a *good* parent. Just like everything else about being a parent... none of it is 'simple', but it's only optional if you don't take your role as a parent seriously. Not really too hard to figure out, IMO.

Yeah, they made a change. Watch and see while they don't pay these idiots millions of dollars.

They are monitoring your computer activities instead!

put food on the table?

Do *you* work three jobs?

Pfft... what a canard.

If you can't monitor the usage, you remove the computer, and take trips to the library to use it when you absolutely have to. Simple, really.

remove the computer, take a trip to library...how about end you life? That would be the most simple thing to do, right?

I don't work three jobs. But plenty of hard working Americans do.

rolling my eyes

Doesn't change the fact that you're bending over backwards to rationalize away the fact that this child's parents didn't bother to mind their child's online activities.

Sorry, but there's no way to rationalize this. The child lied to make her profile visible to adults, and the parents had no clue... there's no excuse for that... at all.

And yes, it is very simple to find access for a computer for academic use. Of course, that would mean the child lost her access to extras like myspace... but if the child can't be trusted to follow rules (which is obvsiouly the case), and the parents are too LAZY to read logs... then oh well, that's tough.

Lots of children don't even have access to clean drinking water... I'm not about to feel sorry for a child that abuses online privileges and gets them yanked. Doubt many others would, either.

But the online environment today are so fully of traps and setups, there's no way parents can avoid of all that, left alone these computer illiterated parents.

My point is if the environment is bad and unmanaged, no matter how smart you think you are, the crooks will get you eventually.

A girl got raped, you didn't think the company provided the communication platform share some responsibilities?

She's only ask for 30 million (for cry out loud), which probably is just a yearly bonus for the CEO.

Don't let corporations get off so easily.

I don't see how anyone expects myspace to 'manage' the environment to the benefit of reckless underage teens who are not minded by their guardians. The only solution I see is to deny them access altogether. That is probably what will happen.

As for suing myspace, it's absolutely ridiculous, and I expect this suit will go nowhere.

It seems to me that you just want to "stick it to the corporation" rather than look for the real object of blame. If you weren't responsible - as a person or corporation - then you don't deserve punishment. I agree with you that Big Corps. like WalMart and Big Oil suck ass, but don't stick it to MySpace or News. Corp (however bad Murdoch sucks) if they aren't responsible, which I don't think they are.

In a similar case about 1 or 2 years ago, a family sued an online service that provides addresses and public information (like an online "Background" check service) for providing information (ie - address, phone number, etc) to a stalker who ended up murdering this woman. The online service was found to be not liable in this case - seems pretty similar to this MySpace case, in terms of "facilitating" means of contact or whatever, and this case law seems to rule in favor of MySpace.

"you didn't think the company provided the communication platform share some responsibilities"

Utter ridiculousness. Should the phone company be held responsible too if they spoke on the phone? What about the manufacturer of the computer used? What about the ISP company? What about the bank that holds the mortgage on the house?

Myspace.com is a public place for everyone to see and use. Not like a phone, or a computer in a private home, it's a public visual virtual commumity. The government of this community (myspace.com) has a legal duty to police the place ensuring its members' safty. It has failed to do so in this incident. Therefore it should take responsibilty for what had happened and share the blame. It should be punished accordingly.

There's a point where teenage children have to take responsibility. If 14 year olds are old enough to babysit their little brothers or sisters, then they are old enough to not be dumb on the computer. You can't blame a victim at all for being raped - that's completely against the definition of rape. But - and hate me or love me for saying this - but yeah, I am going to place some blame on the teenager for being stupid. What teenager openly puts their home address on the Internet. It's completely rediculous. And what teenager continues conversations with people when they openly talk about sex - a la the "To Catch a Predator" Dateline series (I know those are conversations with real 14 year olds, but that's how they are when these predators really DO abuse these children).

And like the title of this post suggests, there's only so much parenting one can do. As above posters have stated (rediculously I might add) that if you can't monitor complete usage then remove the computer and use the library - that's rediculous. What's to prevent teenagers from viewing MySpace at the library? Plus, a parent can drill into a child's head about not doing dumb stuff online, but all a child needs is an attitude of "oh mom'll never catch me" or "I'll only do it once" and that parenting is disregarded.

I guess I'm VERY VERY fortunate for always being ahead of my years in terms of not being stupid, but I would never do anything like this. I started using the internet at 12 years old (I'm 19 now) and I've never been contacted ONCE from pedophiles - it's cause I avoided chatrooms and such. But even still, with AIM and everything I could have gotten into bad situations, but I never did because I'M NOT STUPID!!

You install a program that records every keystroke, and read the logs.

Failing that, you sit with your child as they do their browsing on the library's computer. They're not going to be there all night. And you're right, eventually that child will have to enter the big, bad, scary world, and as a parent you have to hope you've done enough to ensure that child knows how to be careful and safe. Obviously, this child didn't quite get that message (not even close, apparently).

It truly disgusts me that some people lavish more time and attention on their PETS than many seem to do with their offspring.

All you did here were blaming the victim and making all kinds of strawman and excuse blaming the parents while badmouthing the victim herself.

believe whatever you like... but please, do me a favor and point out just *one* strawman

and please also get at least this point straight - i did not blame the victim, EVER, i blamed the parents who did not care enough to mind her

busy?

They have a website to run, if people want to use it they shouldn't be stupid about it.

seems like mom should have caught onto this at SOME point - no? It certainly isn't myspace's fault.

Whatever happened to demanding to meet your daughter's date before letting her leave the house?

Archaic, yes, but it served a dual purpose: you got to see who your kid is hanging out with and you got to give that person the message, "do not screw around with my girl."

child in no uncertain terms to stay the hell away from MySpace. The only people she's allowed contact with via the computer are her 3 best friends from school she's permitted to e-mail. That's it.

That mother is as irresponsible as her daughter. Apparently allowing her to set up shop on a site that attracts sexual predators, inviting trouble, and then trying to sue when some creep enters the picture? What a waste of the court system.

...I have told my child in no uncertain terms to stay the hell away from MySpace...

And if you did permit her to use it, I'm sure you would have told her in no uncertainl terms to stay away from people who sound creepy and NOT to meet them in person because they MIGHT be sexual predators!

:headbang:
rocknation

you have no clue as to the size of my heart. I take it you're not the parent of a 13-year-old girl and will leave it at that.

Young people a RIGHT to express themselves on such a forum as myspace. I'm so sick of all this bullshit. Prosecute the exploiters who are doing the sexual abuse - don't silence young people who so need an outlet.

It's not a right, it's a privilege. One that needs to be exercised with caution, like many others. And one that can be limited if circumstances require.

A "right"? Not even close. I may think I have a "right" to stand up in a skanky bar and announce that I have pockets full of $100 bills, but I damn well better be ready to face the consequences.

I am an IT person and I am shocked at how unsafe and sloppy the MySpace website is run. Considering you have young people on there, they should be a lot more careful.

That's the blessing and the curse of the internet. What you bring to it is your own choice.

I have a page on Flickr, and can't help but notice that anytime I post photos of my (toddler and pre-pubescent) nieces, the hits come in right away. I operate under the assumption that some of them are coming from perverts looking for a turn-on. I could use the 'private' option, but choose not to be driven by fear.

A valid email address, and not some free yahoo or hotmail account. You are dealing with teenagers, a little caution and security is called for.

Who pays for email?

The parents should be a lot more careful!

Too many "too busy" fucking parents ignore their kids these days!

much less something like MySpace. This company is very neglegent with the safety of their users.

but i still hope they win. $30M less for Rupert Murdoch is a good thing, in my book. just sayin'

nm

with logic like that, what's the point of doing anything?

With reasoning and logic like that their would be no justice.

i don't know Rupert Murdoch, personally. I know the news organization behemoth he heads, however. I'd like to see their coffers run a little dry, wouldn't you? though $30M wouldn't do much, and debating this point is ridiculous anyway, because it will probably never even make it to a trial! in all likelihood the judge will throw it out as being without merit, as well he/she should!

buuuuuut, it seems like you'd rather continue drawing silly conclusions about my position on such weighty matters as justice and reasoning, so knock yourself out. i've got some weeding to do...

DU has moderators and doesn't allow sex threads. It sounds like Myspace doesn't want to waste money on any supervision. Just yesterday there was a thread about a person who needed to report threatening behavior on Myspace and Myspace just told them to ignore it or call the police. Their company wasn't going to get involved.

If you go to a bar and the bar doesn't have bouncers, it's still your fault if you get in a fight, but I guarantee the city will shut down the bar for not having bouncers.

Not being a visitor to MySpace, I don't know if they have a special "forum" for sex threads where this girl met this guy. But even so, DU hosts a wide range of discussion groups covering a wide range of interests and topics. And if someone posts something that intrigues someone and then they check the persons profile and then send them a private message and then start emailing outside of DU and then arrange to meet...is that really that different from what can happen on MySPace?

Let's just ban the internet and be done with it!

START BEING PARENTS!!

because of the age difference.

The company provides a platform that age hiding is possible.

If you had read the story, you'd know that the guy had told her that he was a high school senior. And she went to see him anyway. The age difference did not deter her.

took her out to eat and to a movie, then drove her to an apartment complex parking lot...where he sexually assaulted her, police said..."
Unless he kidnapped her, he picked her up at school because she AGREED to be picked up at school. That HAD to be a violation of her parents' rules. And if he had claimed to be her age, the very fact that he was old enough to drive should have tipped her off.

But what I'd really like to know is if the mother ever told her daughter to be careful with people she met online and certainly not to meet them in person without her knowledge or consent. By the way, since e-mails and phone calls were involved, maybe the e-mail service and the phone company should be sued, too. The NSA can provide the records.

:headbang:
rocknation

This is the platform where she met her attacker. The company should have background check before letting members talk to each other, epecially age verification. It's the company's responsibility to do so.

Give her 300 million and go bankrupt!

They deserve the punishment.

the reason I agree is because when predator are brought into the light the internet boards usually do nothing about them.
\
I had the pleasure of sharing a board with a murderer. Before and after he killed someone. He was convicted and apparently can't hit the board from prison. But judging from other predators on the site - maybe 2 our of 40,000, I doubt the webmaster would have gotten rid of him.

I googled one guy and he was soliciting runaways, and other people who couldn't be traced. to come to him. Cyberangels even freaked out about him. The webmaster of the site didn't see a reason to ban him until the police and the FBI got involved.

Internet is a stocking ground for predators. There should be some safty nets.

Oh, the murderer - literally argued on the website, that murders in movies weren't real enough, especially the stranglings - of course we found out 2 months later when he got caught that his post was after he strangled some guys wife in a garage for a few thousand dollars.

I'm sure some folks who first "met" on DU have arranged to meet in person.

she lied to be able to attract predators

still want to foist all the blame off on the company, and not the parent (who failed to monitor the kid's net use) or the child (who lied to make her site more accessible)?

For not properly screening their customers. After all there have been hundreds of thousands of cases where someone who got picked up at a bar later got assaulted. Why should these places get protection websites don't, in your mind?

How about the owners of the parking lot in which the assault occurred -- how about a few million from them for not having good security? Or the high school he picked her up from? What about the Ford company for providing transportation to the assault? Maybe the girl could sue her own mother for the proceeds from the other lawsuits?

There would be whole lot less scandals if the victims do. I think they really should. Get money from the greedy corporations!

Sue'em all! (as in "Bring'em On!")

It'd be like a prison operation. Quite Orwellian really.

that allow a platform for people to people interaction should be held liable if two people come into contact in real life and something bad happens?

Sorry, that's just nutty. Parents need to teach their children never to reveal any personal information online and not to talk to strangers...

for being woefully neglectful and allowing her to become subject to unwanted abuses.... myspace is free. no one forced a gun to their head and signed them up. and they do not take monetary subscriptions. Also, there is a section that allows parents and teachers to investigate what their teen is up to on these sites. and if the parent feels that the teen is missusing the site, they can have their child locked up.

Then again... the space is owned by Fox

it's owned by news corporation, which, yes, also owns fox broadcasting. that company has its fingers in so many pies, it's disgusting.

Here's a helpful list: http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/newscorp.asp

Famous creepy quote from Mr. Murdoch: "Our reach is unmatched around the world. We're reaching people from the moment they wake up, until they fall asleep..."

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

It's a medium, like any gathering of people.. Lots of sexual assaults occur on college campuses - so should the colleges be sued? Of course not. Just punish the perpetrator. Or else you'll scare the rest of society and business into not functioning for fear of being sued.

It seems like the average American has lost all abillity to take the responsibility for his/her own actions. How pathetic.

So they blame MySpace for their own negligence?

Talk about a "Frivolous Lawsuit"!
People such as this are selfish and only ruin everything for others.:grr:

Where is this girls mother?! So she is suing for being a sh*** parent? Has anyone found out what the results of the lawsuit are? There is no way they won.

It's always seemed odd to me. They should have one for teens and one for adults.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm

As many have acknowledged above, kids are their main target. If you take a quick look at COPPA you'll realize it is no coincidence that the cutoff age for myspace.com is 14....and they are likely off the hook in this case unless mom can establish that the site was aimed at children under 13, and that her child was under thirteen at the time myspace.com accepted/permitted her to post personal information on her site or in chat rooms.

Yes, without question every instance I am directly familiar with of kids getting into trouble in connection with myspace.com involved some or significant lack of parental control.

On the other hand, I have also had quite a bit of experience picking up the pieces from sexual predators (10 years as a peer counselor for rape survivors) and am well aware that 14 year olds are no match for professional (and most of them are in terms of training and experience) predators. That's why COPPA exists - to require that web site owners who target their sites to children take steps to ensure that they make it difficult for predators to use their sites to find prey.

There's enough blame to go around here - and my personal opinion is that if myspace is not intentionally targeting at kids under 13 that myspace certainly has knowledge that much of its audience is under thirteen (and claiming to be older), and should be complying with COPPA more diligently than it is.

I understand what you are saying about the "under 13" business, but why have 14-18 year olds at all? Obviously, the site is used to meet and greet (and yes, pick-up). Why isn't the cut off 18? What would people think if adults had "dances" or "mixers" for 14 year olds and up? If it was wholly innocent then why have any cut off at all? The whole thing is creepy, imo.

To make money, they have to have frequent users - in this case large portions of their frequent users are young teens and the predators who prey on them. Make the cutoff 18, much of the prey disappears, along with the predators, along with the money. Make the cutoff at 14 and you appear to be avoiding the COPPA responsibilities (which apply to gathering info from under 13s, or sites targeted to under 13s). After all, myspace even "prohibits" folks from joining a full year longer than they have to. Under 13s can (and regularly do) still very easily pass themselves off as 14 or older (and since the parental checks mandated by COPPA arguably do not apply, myspace doesn't even do the simple check of asking for birth year). Prey still there - predators show up - money follows.

That is why I believe myspace bears some of the blame - their business plan depends (at least in part) on attracting young teens and preteens and those who prey on them. Whether you agree with it or not, there are laws designed to require sites geared to attracting preteens in an attempt to protect them from the predators myspace needs to make money.

To be fair, I have also heard that a lot of activists use myspace groups to connect with each other and stay informed. Assuming that's the case that group of folks also provides a lot of traffic (translation: traffic = ad money).

posts that I think makes any sense.

You wrote:

"On the other hand, I have also had quite a bit of experience picking up the pieces from sexual predators (10 years as a peer counselor for rape survivors) and am well aware that 14 year olds are no match for professional (and most of them are in terms of training and experience) predators. That's why COPPA exists - to require that web site owners who target their sites to children take steps to ensure that they make it difficult for predators to use their sites to find prey."

People seem to be in denial about this.

And many seem to be in denial that we as a society should be concerned about protecting our young people. And that parents - esp. single parents who work - are not going to be able to control everything that their teenagers do.

I suppose that people are afraid to admit that our new technology IS making it FAR easier for predators to find and attack unsuspecting, esp. young, teen victims. (Because some are afraid of restrictions on them? :shrug: ) I think that the problems of that technology is something that people should come to grips with - and try to find solutions for.

Unless people want a plan where ALL single parents are be paid enough to live on and raise their children - working the same hours that their children AND teens are in school (off at 3pm /home during the summers - or whatever) - I think that there should be more monitoring by MySpace - and any other website that is profiting off of transactions between minors and adults.

Maybe a lawsuit will bring the issues where they need to be.

Meanwhile - in Venezuela - (poor) housewives are being paid to be housewives. Here we just blame the moms - or the victim (with little blame for the rapists) - all the while people scream "Accountability!". Sheesh.

http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/English2006/StatementFromWomenToChavez.htm

one needn't do any actually parenting, one just has to have a good lawyer.

Everyone wants all these new laws to protect their children from the sexual preditors...

Yes, technology and the internet has allowed pedophiles to get together and make it easier to attack than in the past. However, you get some parental control software or watch what your kids do online and this becomes a non-issue.
And don't start about privacy. Children don't legally have any privacy rights until age 18. So as a parent, you have a right to protect your children from the dark side of the internet.

And the arguement made all the time is that the parents shouldn't ever be blamed when their kid is attacked. Or it is said that kids shouldn't have to worry about it. YOU ARE 100% CORRECT!! And I wish that was the case. However, pedophilia has been a reality of our species since day 1. We can pass all the laws we want, we can execute all the pedophiles we possibly can, but they will never go away. Parents need to start taking an active role in the parenting of their children. The government can't do everything. The government is not permitted by law to do anything to protect your child until the preditor has committed an act against your child. By then, it is almost always too late.

I just went through the site and it seems like a cool way to get in touch with old friends and classmates (found a few from HS), meet new people, etc. I meet drop them a line when I'm interested...

I don't see why it's their fault that an underage girl decided to go and meet up with an older person. I'm not going to 'blame the victim'. What happened is unfortunate, but the fault likes with the ass hole that assulted her.

Myspace just seems like a portal to meet people, like any old chat room, which have been on the internet since it was formed. This is the internet's greatest asset and drawback - this idea of anonymity. People have to use caution and never make public information they don't want potentially falling into unscrupulous hands.

The mom is quite obviously irresponsible and incompetant. Don't parents teach their children not to talk with strangers anymore? The same thing applies to the internet.

If someone sells server space to a company that isn't on the up and up, will they be held liable for the scams perpetrated by these companies?

This suit would set a very bad precedent.

I think it's terrible that this girl was assaulted, but why did this girl get into a car with someone she didn't know?

Isn't that lesson #1 when letting your kids out of the yard on their own?

Seems to be the way it's going.

Expecting the technology to be the all-seeing, all-knowing, protective entity is unrealistic in the extreme. The problem is the behavior of the sexual predator, and the child in question not having been equipped by her parents with the necessary degree of skepticism and self-preservation to stay away from abusers.

The solution is NOT technological. The solution is the same damn thing my mother hammered into my brain from the time I could talk. BE CAREFUL. If you're not sure about someone you're talking to online, ASK YOUR PARENTS about it. Don't go meet strangers alone. Don't get in cars with strange men. Et cetera!

It's not like MySpace can verify age. Anyone can lie about it, saying either they're older or younger.

There's been plenty of news reports about MySpace. Parents need to be more proactive about seeing what their children are up too.

I'm sure if they keep at it they will find more ways.

Predators will likely keep trying to find more ways too, but this is a start.

trying to force everyone else to do their parenting for them. Does this mother not watch Oprah? How does she not know that her daughter can meet a pedophile anywhere online, not just on MySpace? And why didn't she teacher daughter better than to go meet with sick grown men?

...over the winter where a 12-year-old went missing. When the parents got her back, the dad said that most definitely the kid would have to give up her cell phone and the 'puter was coming out of her bedroom, too.

Effective parenting. What a concept!

On a recent trip to Phoenix I saw a girl probably no older than 9 years with her own cell phone. I couldn't even ask for a phone line into my room at 17!

I mean, what the hell is the problem with TALKING to the kids - from the time you first allow them to use the computer without you hovering over their shoulder - and explaining that there are bad people on the Internets, people who will lie to children about how old they are, people who will try to get them to reveal their name, address, phone number, school - and explain that they will be safe if they NEVER EVER tell anyone online those things, or EVER agree to meet anyone they know from online without their parent present.

It's no different from the way my mother taught me to avoid real-life predators. I remember when I wanted to do a pen pal program in school, my very paranoid mother insisted that she see all the letters so that should could be reasonably sure the pen pal wasn't some adult wacko writing from prison or something.

If your kid sets up a livejournal or myspace account or an email account, you don't have to go in and read everything they write - but you should damn sure TALK to them about the dangers, and make sure they know they can come talk to you about anything online that confuses or frightens them. Teach them to be skeptical. My husband did that with his kids, and it worked quite well - they came to him several times when they happened on porn sites by accident, to ask him why in the hell anyone would want to do THAT?! (Some of the sites were fetish sites, and they were kind of young to be exposed to paraphilias.) It made for some ... interesting ... discussions, but the important thing is that they TALKED about it.

every time you hear..."I didn't think it could happen to my kid...(fill in the blank).."
it is typically someone who assumed that their kid was okay or they were ignoring problems or the child altogether.

Whether drugs, sex, internet use, even simple stuff like teaching kids to look both ways before crosssing the street...you have to talk to kids about this stuff.

Facts are friendly.

My neighbor's kids cross the street without looking all the time....they live on a blind hill...someone could come right up and over and squash one of them...but I know what I will hear..."I didn't realize he wasn't paying attention"....

Now that starts to sound like a republican talk (blaming the victims). It's not that people don't want to take responsibility for their actions in life, circumstances prevent them from doing so.

There are lots predators out there actively pursue their preys. And there are lots of innocents falling for it, with the facilitating of greedy corporations that don't care about anything but money.

I support that girl's legal action, she's got a claim.

abdicating their parental responsibilities. Believe me, I think it's terrible she was sexually assaulted. However, don't tell me a 14-year old girl in today's atmosphere of sexual everything had no idea what was up. This is not an 8-year old kid were talking about. And no, I'm not blaming the victim.

On edit, further in the story: "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."

Once again, a tragic situation. WHERE WERE HER PARENTS?!? This just didn't happen overnight. "...a series of e-mails and phone calls..."

As well as trash mothers and daughters and ignore the rapists.

None of which sounds very liberal, IMO.


My other post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2346509&mesg_id=2350025

an ice cream cone day. Maybe it's common sense day. Yes, the 14-year old girl was a victim. However, MySpace was not the perpetrator.

"It is indeed sad when BITCHES like this woman pull this kind of shit and the right wing crooks get to use this as a reason to take away the rights of people to file legitimate suits.

You're a money grubbing whore lady and so is the lawyer representing you."

etc.

Things to consider:
1) The child was sexually assaulted. She indeed is the victim. However, I have issues with her holding all high moral ground. While technically a child, WE ALL KNOW that any average 14 year old has already started to become a sexual person and perhaps even explore their sexuality. That said, I cannot believe the kid was completely and totally taken unaware by this guy. By her own admission there was a string of e-mails and phone calls culminating in their meeting. Sorry, the "I am totally innocent and have been completely unaware of what was happening" just doesn't pass the smell test.

2) MySpace does not have the responsibility to chaperon every kid using their service. You are aware, that for a 14 year old kid to have their profile visible to an adult they kid probably had to "bend the truth" a tad. Once again, totally innocent starts to stink. Perhaps those persons that have posted so negatively against the kid and her mother and their lawsuit are also feeling a bit of the disconnect. Speaking of her mother, you know, the one that has found the time to file a $30,000,000 lawsuit, WHERE WAS SHE when all of this was going on? Remember, "a string of emails AND phone calls." Mommy was that clueless? Again, smelly.

3) The Net and its freedom are under fire from many directions, mainly from people and groups that want to limit the freedom. Keep in mind, without the Net, bush* would already be emperor and the above-mentioned 14-year old would probably be in Jr. ROTC. Lawsuits of this type are polarizing and saturate the air with innuendo and hyperbole.

and sue the entire internet and its body of users as a whole??? ONE ZILLION DOLLARS!!!:wtf: :sarcasm:

Since when should teenagers expect to know exactly what to do to avoid predators?

I think the suit is exhorbitant, and probably another racketeering job (pedos and other nazi filth HATE Myspace, actually), but Myspace and other social sites need to tighten up their security, profile the lying deceitful child molesting bums and THROW THEM OUT.

Bring in the authorities to deconstruct their private "signals" and codes if you have to, but they should be unceremoniously banned.

However, the people who should really pay are those who shelter and employ molesters and rapists.

Who owns that?

yet one more attempt by an ambulance chasing attorney to make some big bucks.

My idea for an alternate headline.

If we can blame the mom for being a "money grubbing, gold digging, bitch" surely we can place blame on the lawyer.

If we can blame a 14 year old girl for getting herself raped or excuse the rapist because being stupid or gullible is reason enough to get raped, then surely we can blame the lawyer.

edit to add: aw, well, at least we're not accusing the girl of lying about being raped so she can go after the big pockets at myspace.com. I wonder if that's some sort of an improvement?