If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
MySpace getting sued...
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32510
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/20myspace.html
Well, I can't say I'm surprised. After all if McDonalds can get sued because you are fat...
Perhaps MySpace should sue "Mom" for failing in her responsibilities as a parent, such as teaching her daughter to not go off alone with strangers, espeically not ones who contact you over the internet.
I just hope that this case gets thrown out of court in the blink of an eye. This would be like sueing the city council because you got assaulted walking through a park at night.
Girl sues MySpace for getting her assaulted
Sue the medium
A 14 YEAR-OLD girl who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on MySpace.com has launched a $30 million lawsuit against its operators.
The lawsuit is critical of the fact Myspace does not verify the age of its users and calls measures in place to stop grizly old geezers grooming sweet young things as "utterly ineffective." The suit alleges Myspace fails in its duty to protect minors.
A lawyer representing the girl's family told reporters, "MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online."
The girl and her family filed the suit against Myspace owner News Corp as well as the 19 year-old accused of fiddling with her.
The girl gave out her mobile phone number to the bloke after she met him on the site. She says that after the pair went out one time to see a film and have a bite to eat, he drove her to a car park and sexually assaulted her.
And that's Myspace's fault.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/20myspace.html
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.
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.
Well, I can't say I'm surprised. After all if McDonalds can get sued because you are fat...
Perhaps MySpace should sue "Mom" for failing in her responsibilities as a parent, such as teaching her daughter to not go off alone with strangers, espeically not ones who contact you over the internet.
I just hope that this case gets thrown out of court in the blink of an eye. This would be like sueing the city council because you got assaulted walking through a park at night.
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
0
Comments
Exactly. And the girl's parents should be more responsible and teach her the dangers of meeting people over the internet. (and yes, I do know that not everyone on the internet is dangerous)
I hope MySpace tell her to fuck off.
in this case then pretty much any website where people can meet can be sued. What goes on offline is not their responsibility.
Exactly.
so many profiles on myspace, faceparty etc are quite sickening - young girls posing in skimpy clothing trying to get attention. its almost like they're pimping themselves and so its a haven for men who want to perv or take advantage.
Sites like this only offer a way for people to find others and talk to. It's not their responsibility to make sure those people are offering 100% true information, nor to ensure any of them have sense enough not to trust someone they don't know.
If they have a warning like "Careful: People might not be who they say they are" then the rest doesn't have to do with them.
What a fucking retarded idea. Blame culture truly is the sign that mankind is coming to an end very soon.
They say:
"People aren't always who they say they are. Be careful about adding strangers to your friends list. It's fun to connect with new MySpace friends from all over the world, but avoid meeting people in person whom you do not fully know. If you must meet someone, do it in a public place and bring a friend or trusted adult."
Any lawyer would argue that myspace have provided clear warning against meeting people offline. Surely this is an open and shut case.
:yes: And surely it's common sense as well?
Damn right.
This culture of suing people has gone too far.
I am going to sue someone the next time I get a bug bite. Or like, cut myself on some inanimate object. Or maybe I'll sue someone for breathing cold germs into the air I might catch.
Twats, the lot of 'em. The court should tell her not to have been a fucking twat, eh?
If you're dumb enough to meet people in person you're only met over the internet, you deserve to reap the consequences of your stupidity.
So she accepted a meal and a movie before deciding that he wasn't the age he said he was? The girl deserved to be buggered over the car bonnet ...
Yes, she's a fool for suing myspace. What you are all forgetting that this girl has been assaulted. Any other situation and those of you saying she deserves what she got would be baying for the blood of the man who attacked her.
Get away! He had to get compensation for his financial outlay somehow ...
But of course, I am being tongue-in-cheek ... I don't condone any sexual assault whatsoever.
And if she hadn't been so stupid to meet this man, then none of this would've happened...
Oh naturally, he takes someone out to dinner that automatically gives him the right to rape her.
You sicken me.
It's a slippery slope to say otherwise.
That's got nothing to do with this. And I don't think that.
Ballerina - that is what I'm trying to say. Basically, she shouldn't believe everything this man told her.
I agree, technically we should leave in a society where it is possible to go and meet people off the web or anywhere else without being raped...
And frankly it's not like every person you meet of the web is going to rape you...
SCC find me on the web and came to meet me, I didn't rape her or abuse her in anyway...
And how many TheSIte meetings has there been, I don't think anyone got raped from one of these meeting...
It is common sense not to put yourself in them situations!!
It's got everything to do with this. If you begin to blame a woman for being raped you undermine the entire justice system, suddenly it's not a crime for a woman to say no and be forced just because she could have acted a little differently.
I'd bet good money that you've made mistakes in your life, we all have, mine wouldn't even be called errors until the worst happened.
see above.