Teen and Mom Sue Myspace for $30 million

**Womp** · 06-20-2006, 06:11 AM

LOL!!! I hope this stupid site gets thrown to the lions.

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."

**bigchris** · 06-20-2006, 06:23 AM

Bebo is much better...i'm in the Agency you know.

**Shane R. Monroe** · 06-20-2006, 07:49 AM

Gee, what took them so long? I'm tempted to sue them myself, just out of principle.

**ChairoNoMe** · 06-20-2006, 03:16 PM

Isn't this like suing the phone company because your 13 year old keeps receiving calls from a pedophile?

It's up to parents to monitor their children's use of the Internet. Myspace is a neutral communication medium. It's not their responsibility to do anything but facilitate communication.

Besides, don't slam Myspace, it's a great place to find out about new bands. Admittedly, I could live without the total lack of HTML skills that is rampant on the member pages of the site. It's a social site and if you aren't a social person, don't go there. I am a social person, so I'm a proud member.

**Shane R. Monroe** · 06-20-2006, 05:58 PM

No, that's not the same thing.

What if the phone company HELPED pedophiles find your children by LISTING THEM PUBLICALLY in the yellow pages?

New bands should be smart enough to find somewhere other than underage breeding grounds to promote their bands.

If you're over 18, do what you want. I don't have numbers in front of me, but I'm betting that 3/4 of MYSPACE is under 18, does NOT have parental permission (as I'm sure some EULA somewhere states) to post PERSONAL information there.

That's just my thoughts on it.

**Darksol** · 06-20-2006, 07:39 PM

Isn't the stone cold truth here that some of these kids who do this stuff are just plain stupid? Just another style of Darwinism at work.

**Oedipus** · 06-21-2006, 08:01 PM

Its not any different than chat rooms or any other blog/diary site. Very few of them require that the people logging in be 18 or older. Also beyond asking for Credit Card information how would you suggest they prevent children from joining the site? Even the credit card barrier wouldn't stop it completely.

So what do you want them to do? Not allow kids to join the site? Or have a seperate site for kids (that would make it easier for a pedophile)? Exactly how are they supposed to protect your kid from his or her self? Because let's not lose sight from the fact that in every case (or at least the one's I've read or heard about) the teenager is the one who shared more information than they should have or went and met the person who assaulted them. MySpace can't possibly be expected to prevent teenagers from making bad decisions.

Also what about the majority who use the site and never have any problems? Why should those kids be prevented from using the site because some parents raised idiots?

So whats next? Should Blizzard be required to not allow those under 18 to play World of Warcraft? How would they even know if the person playing is under 18? Perhaps they should just shut the service down since a pedophile might molest someone who plays the game.

This is just another case of the media making parents scared over a bunch of nonsense. I would guess that the chances of this happening are no greater than the chances of your child being molested by someone in your neighborhood.

Why not just require all future computers to be equipped with an eye retina scanner so we can be sure that no one logging into the internet is under the age of 18.

Or parents could raise kids who are smart enough not to give out personal information to complete strangers when they're online.

**Darksol** · 06-21-2006, 08:03 PM

Bad things happen to stupid people. I can't understand why people are shocked by this fact. And yes , by seeing Generation iPod , they are all around me young and old.

**Shane R. Monroe** · 06-21-2006, 09:20 PM

MySpace PROMOTES the sharing of information (if everyone BLOCKS their profile, then MySpace is no better than any other system). They promote the behavior that made them popular - a bunch of teens doing nothing more than blabbing to each other and learning to make HORRIBLE websites. They CANNOT regulate it, or they will lose what makes them popular.

Of course, that doesn't protect anyone - other than their bottom line.

**TheAlien** · 06-21-2006, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by Shane R. Monroe

If you're over 18, do what you want. I don't have numbers in front of me, but I'm betting that 3/4 of MYSPACE is under 18, does NOT have parental permission (as I'm sure some EULA somewhere states) to post PERSONAL information there.

Shane, I'm embarrassed. I guess I gave you too much credit. Why whould a parent be able to sue a company because SHE'S to incompenent to be a parent? When I was a manager of a Radio Shack, I once had a parent want to return a cordless phone because her daughter used to take into the closet to talk to her boyfriend when she wasn't allowed to. I asked the lady, "So, I should have to pay because you're a bad parent and can't control your kid?" She left speechless. I say the same thing to anyone who has kids who get caught up on ANYTHING bad on the internet. Be a friggin parent! Watch your kids! Take a little responsibility!!!!!!!

Need I say more?