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, cosborn@statesman.com
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.
Talk of Austin
Do you think online communities do enough to protect minors from predators? Post your
comment.
Comments
By John
June 20, 2006 12:23 AM | Link to this
This goes beyond just the parents failing to take responsibility, this is an example of a
group of people who use the legal system for profit. It occurs in workman’s comp, ADA,
schools, whatever, people sue just for the purpose of making a buck off of it. The sad
thing is it affects everyone else. Been to a school playground lately? No swings, climbing
areas, kids cannot run in playground anymore, kids need “training” to use playground
toys!!! When’s the insanity going to stop?
By Elaine
June 20, 2006 12:19 AM | Link to this
I spent a great deal of time on MySpace when my daughter started using it. After the first
three hours, I had enough information on 30 underage children to report them to the
police. I had names, locations, associated peers….and a myriad of pictures showing drug
and alcohol useage, sexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality. In three hours! I reported them
all to MySpace and told them I was going to check the sites of those 30 kids in 48 hours
and if their webpages or pictures were still up, I was contacting the police.
Perhaps parents should monitor more. But I definitely know that MySpace should be
monitoring more. It is their website. And there is virtual, literal proof that crimes are
being committed…right under their cybernose. The mother in the lawsuit is right about
one thing. The fact that no verification is taking place makes MySpace so-called checks
moot and irrelevant.
By
June 20, 2006 12:17 AM | Link to this
Do you think Myspace could counter sue the mom for negligence? What was this kid
doing on the internet unsupervised?
By josh
June 20, 2006 12:14 AM | Link to this
I agree with Ed, the girl is probably lying about being assaulted, but the parents should
feel dumb about not teaching the girl to not talk to strangers, they are not gonna win, but
they might get a nice settlement
By Mike
June 20, 2006 12:05 AM | Link to this
Wonder how old the girl said she was and why weren’t the parents aware that their
daughter was going out with someone that she met online. They might as well sue the
auto maker for making the car that the guy showed up in to take her out. It’s a bad thing
like for something like this to happen but I think people need to take responsibility for
their own actions.
By S Smith
June 20, 2006 12:02 AM | Link to this
Regardless of the mom, this girl was really stupid and is lucky she’s still alive. Most
troubling is that there’s always some cheesy lawyer salivating over deep pockets. It’s
almost a guarantee that MySpace will settle out of court. However, there needs to be
accountability. The State should place this girl on weekend road work detail for 4 years
for her illegal activities, sending a strong message to all underagers that this is no joke!
By Amanda
June 20, 2006 12:01 AM | Link to this
This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a long time. If you didn’t raise your kid
right, don’t go blaming someone else. It’s no one’s job to raise your kid.
By Jay Platinum
June 20, 2006 12:01 AM | Link to this
I hope she wins a judgment against New Corp held MySpace.com and makes them pay
up. It’s high time that big corporations are held accountable. Especially, when they are
too successful and in the news too often. Perhaps, this can lead to a class action against
MySpace.com. Down with Murdoch and long live homegrown American media.
Remember the Ports Deal!!! Just like remember the Alamo.
By ELI
June 19, 2006 11:59 PM | Link to this
The world is going to hell in a handbag.I feel it is MySpaces’ duty to protect underage
people from preditors. Go all the way law suit!
Everything started going downhill for young people back when elementary schools said
that their teachers did not have to eat with the students at lunchtime, and the schools had
to go out and get volunteers (however, I do believe they pay them $5.50 /hr. now) to sit
with the kids at noon. It was the teachers responsibility to take care of the kids at noon.
By Rich
June 19, 2006 11:55 PM | Link to this
If this girl met someone at the mall, could she sue the mall? Or a theatre? Or a sports
stadium?
If this girl is stupid enough to meet someone randomly she met on the internet, and her
mother is too unconcerned about her where she let her go ahead and meet some random
guy then why is it the fault of the website where they happen to meet?
Could you sue Yahoo or MSN chat for meeting someone on there who assaulted you?
This is the ‘deep pockets’ form of lawsuits that disgusts me.
By austinights
June 19, 2006 11:50 PM | Link to this
Sux that she was sexually assaulted, but where is the parental responsibility. With as
much knowledge out there for parents and a 14 year old to know better about such
things…..just how much protection can we have as a society? Maybe we do need to put a
chip in all the kids brains these days. They do call them the Y generation, so Y not?
People need to start waking up. We don’t have enough milk cartons to continue having
stupid things happen that are purely parental preventable.
By Ron
June 19, 2006 11:47 PM | Link to this
It’s hard to see how Myspace COULD protect people from their own stupidity or
ignorance… they provide a means for people to communicate, much like the phone
company provides service — why isn’t she suing the phone company that put the calls
through? Or the ISP that delivered her emails? I’m sorry she was assaulted… that’s
absolutely wrong… but Myspace isn’t responsible… she won’t win the lawsuit.
By Allen
June 19, 2006 11:47 PM | Link to this
And the tally so far, two comments for this and…the rest of the world??? against. I have
children (5 of them) and i try really hard to instill them with something two of the readers
don’t have for themselves COMMON SENSE! Look, if you teach the kids right, you
have a better chance of them doing right. You don’t blame myspace because the kids
were did a very stupid thing, blame yourself because you didn’t teach them to be careful.
Or, are they just trying to retire at the girl”s expense?
By Ed
June 19, 2006 11:45 PM | Link to this
My guess is that the girl had consensual sex with the 19 year old, her Mom found out,
and the girl told her that she was ‘assaulted’.
I’m not wanting to let the 19 year old off the hook, since it sounds like statutory rape, to
me, but I bet it was consensual, not an ‘assault’.
By Lee
June 19, 2006 11:43 PM | Link to this
What a ripoff !! What happened to the parent’s responsibility? Someone’s always ready
to make money off of someone else. Get the attorney to get a life and the mother be more
responsible.
By S young
June 19, 2006 11:42 PM | Link to this
The attorney bringing this law suit and the parents should be COUNTERSUED for
bringing such a nuisance suit to the courts. it is clearly an attempt to gouge some money
to avoid court costs of fighting this ridiculous suit. McDonalds gets sued for making
people fat. This is even dumber.
By Inspector Detector
June 19, 2006 11:40 PM | Link to this
A mother and daughter want $30 million from myspace for being morons? Sounds like
that family has more problems than just a sexual assault.
By Christopher
June 19, 2006 11:37 PM | Link to this
Good grief—This girl can do no wrong in the eyes of her mother. I have a feeling she’s
just like every other ridiculous girl on Myspace- posting half naked, way-too-up close
pictures of herself for the whole world to see. This time Mom caught her and found
somebody else to blame.
By Greg Barton
June 19, 2006 11:36 PM | Link to this
Anybody else had enough of dirtbag lawyers and stinking robes ?
Why has not a judge thrown this case out ?
By Jennifer
June 19, 2006 11:35 PM | Link to this
I think this mother should be arrested for child abuse and neglect. Not only did she alone
allow this to happen to her child, she is refusing to take responsibility for her actions, thus
teaching her daughter that you can always find someone else to blame for your mistakes.
The man who did this was dead wrong and should be prosecuted, certainly. But let’s put
the blame where it belongs, first and foremost with the woman who let her 14-year-old
daughter have unlimited access to a computer.
By jessamine
June 19, 2006 11:33 PM | Link to this
the first mistake was the parent letting the child use MySpace. if you pay attention to the
internet you should know that it’s not the place for a 14 year old. the only way to protect
children online is to monitor all their activity. i would never have believed i would have
stooped to this, but i check history and cookies on a regular basis and require my children
to give me their logins & passwords—i don’t read email—we discuss anything suspect.
we also discuss why i do what i do.
By Jennifer
June 19, 2006 11:29 PM | Link to this
Just another example of why I think you should have to take a test before you are allowed
to have kids.
By Stephen Gravis
June 19, 2006 11:24 PM | Link to this
Where were the parents?
By yo
June 19, 2006 11:22 PM | Link to this
Let’s hope Myspace fights this and does NOT settle this lawsuit. It would set a terrible
precedence and trigger more frivolous lawsuits.
By Bruce
June 19, 2006 11:20 PM | Link to this
They might as well sue the computer manufacturer and the internet service provider too
because without those two, none of this would have happened.
By janie
June 19, 2006 11:16 PM | Link to this
Looks like we have another case of a parent not taking responsibility for their child; so
what else is new. When children are using the internet they should be supervised as with
any other potentially harmful activity. I don’t believe it it the responsiility of myspace to
parent your kids. If you don’t want them in harms way then keep them off the internet. I
never had a problem monitoring my now adult children’s internet activities.
By Rebecca
June 19, 2006 11:08 PM | Link to this
The last time I checked, parents were the ones who were responsible for protecting their
children. I would venture to guess that the computer the girl used to go online was in her
bedroom rather than in a family place out in the open. I would also venture to guess that
the girl was communicating with many different “friends” on MySpace and her parents
probably didn’t know more than half of them.
Parents need to understand that it is their job to be “nosy”—know their childrens’ friends.
By DK
June 19, 2006 11:06 PM | Link to this
The mom should be ashamed and held accountable for negligant parenting My should sue
for wrongful lawsuit any attorney who represents the mom should be disbared. and any
judge who accepts a case agianst myspace should be removed from the bench
By annoyed
June 19, 2006 11:05 PM | Link to this
This is yet another example of bad parenting. As an educator, I see this all the time
(parents often blame me, the teacher, for their child’s actions). My own children aren’t
allowed to be on the computer without me watching over them. Why in the world would
you let your child meet someone in person after meeting them online? There are too
many lazy parents. More ignorant people are reproducing… and sueing people. Parents
need to take responsibility for their actions… or lack thereof.
By ACB
June 19, 2006 11:05 PM | Link to this
I do not allow my child to post any personal information on any website. I do not allow
my child to make “friends” with unknown persons on the Internet. She is allowed to
email and IM her real, live friends. We have discussed the dangers of becoming friendly
with unknown persons online.
By plainsmen
June 19, 2006 11:04 PM | Link to this
Myspace should counter sue the mom for the whole 30 million. I think a jury, based on
these posts, would find in their favor easily. Obviously more evidence of the mother’s
negligence versus Myspace’s.
By anon
June 19, 2006 11:03 PM | Link to this
Mommy is trolling for $$$.
Didn’t another mommy try this on Michael Jackson (put her child out as lawsuit bait).
By plainsmen
June 19, 2006 11:02 PM | Link to this
Myspace should counter sue the mom for the whole 30 million. I think a jury, based on
these posts, would find in their favor easily. Obviously more evidence of the mother’s
negligence versus Myspace’s.
By lynn
June 19, 2006 11:00 PM | Link to this
This is a case of someone trying to get something for nothing. The internet is here to stay.
You can chat with anyone, but you have to be smart enough to know people don’t always
tell the truth. I have four children with myspace profiles. They all know people do tell lies
and normally do not chat with people they do not know. The parents should have taught
this girl about strangers. The girl was old enough to know better. Myspace is not a bad
thing unless you make it bad.
By Eric
June 19, 2006 10:59 PM | Link to this
This is rediculous. She met him, went to dinner, THEN a movie. What in the world does
Myspace have to do with her assault? Noting! Take some responsibility for your own
stupid actions and quit looking for other people to blame. That goes for the parents as
well. If you’re looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror.
By Candy
June 19, 2006 10:59 PM | Link to this
I’m suing all the liberals for allowing the society to become a wholly immoral, “if it feels
good, do it” society where no truth is absolute, but all truth and morality is relative. We
make excuses for all the scumbags in society, and let them out of jail when they should
be castrated and put on chain gangs, and then we expect slimeballs to act right. Yeah,
thanks you libs! Never tell anyone NO and never judge another. And don’t forget,
everything goes when it comes to success in business.
By Catherine
June 19, 2006 10:59 PM | Link to this
Myspace has gotten enough publicity (mostly negative) over the past few months that
every parent should be aware of the dangers of allowing their teens to access the site.
Kids have no business on this site. News Flash: Parents, your teens are not trust-worthy!
There are programs you can install on your computer to record all of your kid’s activity
on and offline. You can even use a filter to keep them from accessing these types of sites.
Protecting your kids is your most important job.
By Russ Wiles
June 19, 2006 10:57 PM | Link to this
This is not MySpace.com’s fault. This is a parental failure and the site should not be held
reliable for this type of situation. This is like someone getting into a car accident and then
the driver sueing the car make for not preventing the accident. Pointless. Why is a mother
allowing her 14 year old daughter out on a date with a high school senior?! Average 14
year old children are in the eighth grade. This really upsets me that this mother is trying
to shift the blame.
By ACB
June 19, 2006 10:55 PM | Link to this
This is an issue of personal responsibility. Myspace.com is in no way responsible for
what happened to that girl. What kind of parent allows their child to go somewhere with
someone they’ve never met, alone?
By Blair
June 19, 2006 10:54 PM | Link to this
What kind of irresponsible parent allows their 14 year old unfettered access to the
internet? TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN CHILDREN. If you wouldn’t allow your child
to wander unescorted in downtown LA or NYC at night, why would you let them wander
(virtually) World Wide? How’s about this for a house rule, No children are allowed on
the internet by themselves. (Or would that require parents to actually take an interest in
the lives of their children?)
By PUH-LEEZ
June 19, 2006 10:49 PM | Link to this
I am so tired of all of the rest of us having to pay for the idiocy of the few. Where in the
hell were this girl’s parents, or does she only have one parent to look after her? I met my
now-husband in line at a coffee shop 3.5 years ago, and I would not get in his car with
him or be alone with him for about 5 dates dates. First I wanted to get to know him better
and then I wanted to meet a few of his friends. THEN I put my safety in his hands. My
bet: this gal’s Dad is not in the picture.
By marie
June 19, 2006 10:48 PM | Link to this
The applications/enrollments should be raised to a higher level of intellengence on sites
such as MySpace.A series of 10 to 20 questions designed to determine the age of the
enrollee should become part of the sign up process. Upon submission,the results match
up with the reported age,and if it’s a no match,or NO WAY! the same message that
comes up when a cc number is in error occurs, and the appicant cannot sign up.The
questions need to vary. Many companies design these for employers.
By Tremaine
June 19, 2006 10:47 PM | Link to this
I honestly think that Myspace is not and should not be held responsible for what
happened to this girl. People have to learn to take responsibility for their own actions and
learn some common sense. Also the parent is clearly at fault here, if she was actually
being an active parent in the child’s life this would not have happened. Parents need to
play their role and not expect that magically their child’s safety and welfare would be in
the hands of complete strangers.
By Plainsmen
June 19, 2006 10:47 PM | Link to this
I think MYSPACE should counter sue the mother for the same amount for not protecting
her own daughter, by knowing who she was chatting with, monitoring her online
conversations, and not instilling the values that would have kept her from getting in the
car with a stranger 5 years older than herself in the first place. It’s just sad.
By Nancy
June 19, 2006 10:43 PM | Link to this
It is unthinkable that a site like MySpace should be allowed to get away with this! These
corporations must be held accountable for placing money over the safety of the general
public. MySpace should require some kind of background check on older members if
they are going to allow 14 year old girls to register for accounts. I applaud this mother for
standing up for her daughter and taking on an irresponsible corporation! $30 million is
nothing… this poor girl should get double that!
By Neil
June 19, 2006 10:42 PM | Link to this
My space security is so lax, that I can pretend to be a 15 year old and have no problem
accessing many teenagers. Gomorrah says 15 and 16 years olds have their accounts set to
private by default. That’s not true. Do a search on 15-16 years olds and you’ll have no
problem accessing and viewing their pages. Also, what’s to stop a teenager from setting
their age as an adult or do a search on people who are over the age 90. How many of
them look like their over the age of 90?? It’s quite rare.
By Ashley
June 19, 2006 10:39 PM | Link to this
This is quite sad, but let’s be realistic. The girl is the one who chose to email this guy she
had never met, talk on the phone with him, and have him pick her up from school! He
was in essence a stranger. That was bad judgment on her part. And hopefully her mother
did not know about this. If she did I think it is her responsibility to tell her daughter this is
a bad idea.
By scott
June 19, 2006 10:37 PM | Link to this
Since when does bad parenting pay $30 Million?
By Chance
June 19, 2006 10:36 PM | Link to this
In England, if you bring a civil suit against somebody and you end up with a frivolous
case, and you lose, you have to pay all the other sides costs. Attorney fees, court costs
etc. Right now, they have nothing to lose by suing. MySpace will probably settle out of
court for thousands of dollars simply because it makes better business sense to the
company. If this mother faced having to pay for MySpaces legal defense fees if she loses,
I doubt she would feel the same.
By tracy
June 19, 2006 10:35 PM | Link to this
This anguished mother will not be able to restore her child’s innocence or childhood to
her by suing MySpace. I hope that other parents can learn from the pain of this young girl
and her mother. Trust is divisible and sometimes “trusting” a child with things they are
not ready for (ie dating) can be an excuse for not doing the work of supervision and of
providing positive activities.
By Jen
June 19, 2006 10:32 PM | Link to this
As a teacher, I frequently see parents who want to blame others for the tragedies that their
children experience. Commonly, these tragedies could have been prevented had their
parents been actually parenting. Had this occurred, the child would not have looked for
approval from other older role models that too often have horrific intentions.This girl’s
parents should be ashamed not only of their lack of parenting but in their action of
blaming others.What kind of message are they sending her?
By Wade
June 19, 2006 10:31 PM | Link to this
Everybody sue! Everybody sue! You heard me! We’ve all made poor decisions; often
times really apparent stupid decisions. But, it’s not your fault! That’s the cool part. It’s
not your responsibility. It’s actually the responsibility of any party that unintentionally or
unknowingly helped to facillitate your poor decision(s), in any way whatsoever.
So, sue! And make sure it’s for a really large amount. Don’t be dumb about this big
money making opportunity.
By Lisa
June 19, 2006 10:29 PM | Link to this
Its HOGWASH !!!!! that girl knew what was going on…. I moniter my girls myspace..
and first off a person has to be on her friend list before they can view her myspace…. a
Very VERY protective option myspace offers… my daughter also has common sense..
and knows how to behave online… Its sad this 14 year old didn’t… I feel for her but its
not anyones fault but her own….to say myspace doesnt offer options to protect users is
CRAP!
By Sergio
June 19, 2006 10:29 PM | Link to this
The simple matter is, the girl should have some ethics and should really not have gone
with this guy in the first place. No one is to blame for this, the situation ended in a
horrible thing happening to the underaged girl. Myspace cannot be held liable for
anything that happens “offline,” it really is irrelevant to the site. Im not saying “too bad”
but, to the parents, know where your childeren are, and what they are doing. Nothing
forced this girl to get in that car and go with that guy.
By Bill
June 19, 2006 10:28 PM | Link to this
$30,000,000? Okay, now Mom’s got a price tag for her daughter’s well being. How come
she didn’t ask for $100mil or just $10mil? She only needs $30mil…..Sorry Mom…..My
daughter is PRICELESS.
By James
June 19, 2006 10:28 PM | Link to this
I think MySpace should counter-sue the parents for failing to protect their daughter, and
failing to install common sense. Include the daughter in the suit for stupidity, and
possibly the public school system in general for contributing to this ignorance, and letsblame-someone-else for my actions mentality.
By Joe
June 19, 2006 10:28 PM | Link to this
you guys seem to have some very interesting child raising techniques, like for instance,
spying on your children. what better way to teach responsibility than spying! makes sense
to me. when i was 14 i had more than enough common sense not to do this sort of thing
(that thing being running off with 22 year olds). also, please DO NOT rely on software to
protect your 14 year old. i could break every security measure my parents set up. it’s
really not hard. EDUCATE, don’t spy.
By adam "who wants my number?"
June 19, 2006 10:27 PM | Link to this
Instead of trying to ban Myspace on Capital Hill, they should pass a Parental Control Act.
Not that site should have parental controls, but legislation that states in cases of child
negligence, the parents must prove they did all they could to prevent the actions of their
child…BEFORE THEY SUE A WEBSITE OR ANY OTHER
CORPORATION!!!….whatever happened to corpral punishment?!? …..as a matter of
fact…do we even remember the definition of the word “discipline”?
By Jennifer
June 19, 2006 10:27 PM | Link to this
As a parent of a teenager that uses myspace you have to know what your child is doing
and who they are hanging out with.Always check with who they are conversing with and
getting names as they are chatting. Open communication is key.I teach in a high school
and also teach my students to be safe about using the internet.Its not MySpace’s
responsiblity to personally keep our teens from doing stupid stuff. Its the parents
responsibility to keep track of their child!This parent needs a reality check
By D
June 19, 2006 10:27 PM | Link to this
As much as I hate Myspace and think it’s a terrible website, it is NOT the responsibility
of Myspace to monitor the actions of its users.
Also, in the article it says the two spoke on the phone and sent a series of e-mails. What
does that have to do with Myspace? Should the telephone company bear responsibility
for not monitoring them enough too?
By Bad Guy
June 19, 2006 10:26 PM | Link to this
Hey, kids! I’m 12 years old. I just wanna play with you in the park. Quick, what’s your
phone number?? (before they shut down this site …)
By fire is pretty
June 19, 2006 10:23 PM | Link to this
Hey I know I will fill my gas tank up, drop a lit match in the tank; and sue the petrol
industry for not verifying and ensuring I’m not a moron.
No one can blame me if I’m under 40, and it’s not my parents fault for raising an idiot…
Oooh, fire is pretty…
By Ben
June 19, 2006 10:21 PM | Link to this
So what if the guy was 18 instead of 16? Not like age verification is gonna make a bit of
difference. I’m 24 and I could persuade anyone face-to-face that I’m in high school.
Wherever a girl is dumb enough to walk into an apartment with a stranger, it’ll happen
again, wherever they met. This isn’t an internet issue.
Punish the guy severely enough that no one else dares imitate him, then fine that mom for
trying to convert tragic stupidity into cash.
By Alan Scher
June 19, 2006 10:17 PM | Link to this
Maybe she should also sue the computer manufacturer that enabled the initial contact.
And her ISP, too. Yeah sue everybody.The sad part is, they will collect bigtime thanks to
bad parenting.
By Brian
June 19, 2006 10:16 PM | Link to this
Completely absurd. It would be more appropriate to call child protective services on the
mother for a lack of supervision and guidance? Maybe the mother should be
sued/arrested for making her daughter so readily available to anyone on the internet.
Unfortunately, in today’s society, MySpace will end up settling for far less, ultimately
giving into to the American dream of suing corporate America in hopes of winning a
frivolous lawsuit.
By Collette
June 19, 2006 10:16 PM | Link to this
Why don’t the rest of us get together and sue that Mom for breach of contract. She has a
morale contract with her child to protect her and to teach her to protect herself. I am the
mother of a 14 year old My Space subscriber. I monitor her use of the internet. Our
computer is in a family room where we are together most of the time. I do a “My Spece’
check at least once a week and look at her space and I look at the sites of all of her
friends. Her internet safety is MY responsibility.
By marie
June 19, 2006 10:16 PM | Link to this
little girls who dont know right from wrong and didnt learn that talking to strangers is bad
are the only ppl to blame for this. Myspace just hosts a place where friends can keep in
touch, if she doesnt have enough common sense to not talk to ppl she doesnt kno, then its
her fault. Shes too young to be talking to guys of that age anyway. Its sad how parents
blame myspace when they should blame themselves and their kids for being stupid.
By Lisa
June 19, 2006 10:10 PM | Link to this
A note to Gloria Hinojosa-Bauge…you are right, thank God your children watch the
news to learn about bad people. I guess all of our problems in the world would be solved
if we left the room, and turned on the computer and the t.v. for our children…because
parents sure aren’t doing the teaching and monitering.
By nan
June 19, 2006 10:09 PM | Link to this
It’s Al Gore’s fault. He claims to have invented the internet so sue him. If he hadn’t
invented the internet, there would be no “My Space” and all those kids with irresponsible
parents would never have assaulted. Yeah, that’s it. Sue Al! Ok, so it’s just as ridiculous
as this lawsuit there could be a point here. You know how those attorneys are.
By mike
June 19, 2006 10:05 PM | Link to this
I think the different on lineservices do not do enough to protect young kid. BUT, I also
believe it is up to teh parents to be more involved with the CHILDREN they brought into
this world. Having them took no brain power at all. The problem now mommy and daddy
is you need to watch over and teach them what this world is all about. STOP BEING
THEIR FRIEND!! You are, or at least should be, the the adult and teacher. DO YOUR
JOB.
By DM
June 19, 2006 10:04 PM | Link to this
Yeah, right. Myspace owes this mom $30mil because she’s a bad parent? What’s next?
Law suits on T-Mobile for text messaging? Yahoo for instant messaging and let’s throw
in companies that make keyboards, computers and monitors since that’s where all this
starts anyway. I say its time we fine insane parents and put them in jail for bringing
frivalous cases like this to the public courts.
dmburrows.blogspotDOTcom
By Kevin
June 19, 2006 10:01 PM | Link to this
This case pretty much sums up American (United Statesian) society today. No self
responsibility. Everything is completely over exaggerated. Ha ha enjoy – it is only going
to get worse.
By calcifer
June 19, 2006 10:00 PM | Link to this
The daughter should sue her mother for not teaching her COMMON SENSE. Why didn’t
anyone teach this girl that 19 out of her legal age range? Why didn’t anyone tell the girl
that any 19 year old guy going after a 14 year old has got to be demented? Why sue
mysoace? Not getting friended by enough people and decide to take it out on the website?
Punish the GUY not the WEB SITE!!!
By Bryan
June 19, 2006 10:00 PM | Link to this
Simple comment: I think someone should sue the mom. Where was she? I feel for the girl
as the situation that occurred is something she may live with for a very long time. Yet, I
hope the judge laughts this lawsuit out of court.
By Maria
June 19, 2006 09:59 PM | Link to this
As a mother and a survivor of a sexual assault myself, I am sorry for what happened to
this girl, if something like that was to happen to my own child, I wouldn’t blame anyone,
but myself. We need to make sure our kids know how dangerous is to go out and meet
strangers. We need to make sure we know where our kids are at all times. I hope this lady
doesn’t get away with winning this suit. We have to stop suing everyone everytime
something goes wrong to justify our own mistakes.
By Lori
June 19, 2006 09:57 PM | Link to this
WHERE ARE THE PARENTS OF THESE CHILDREN? I cannot understand how or
why it seems okay to some parents to feel it is not their responsibility to make sure their
own children are not educated about online safety. What am I missing here? My 14-yearold may do things when she is not with me but in our HOME she is monitored online and
is being educated by her parents about just such dangers. Believe me, she read this very
story and we had a chat about it.
By Shannon
June 19, 2006 09:56 PM | Link to this
This MySpace and Security issue has gone too far. The only Security MySpace should
concentrate on is Computer Virus Security. I am so tired of parents obviously not
spending enough time with their children to teach them things like ‘don’t talk to
strangers.’ This girls parents are looking for someone else to blame because they are too
self-righteous to blame themselves. Be accountable.
By Sean Friel
June 19, 2006 09:55 PM | Link to this
I’m suing the city of Philadelphia for not doing its job to protect me since I got robbed
going back to my house at night when I was a minor.
By Fungo
June 19, 2006 09:43 PM | Link to this
Just another idiot searching for someone with deep pocket, the American way of doing
business nowadays. The kid and her parents are responsible for their behavior and trying
to blame someone else for poor judgment and lack of proper supervision is pretty stupid.
The suit will fail obviously, and should.
By MOM of 4
June 19, 2006 09:42 PM | Link to this
PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOUR KIDS DO…ALL THE TIME. This woman has
no case, no reason to be upset if she did not take the steps to monitor what her kids were
doing online. But hey…we can blame heavy metal music for murders, we can sue
McDonalds for making us fat…so why not Myspace for the rape and abuse of our
children? This is just wrong. After my kids go to bed, I monitor their websites, view their
cookies, and even have their sites monitored.
By The Jesus
June 19, 2006 09:40 PM | Link to this
What ever happened to personal resposibility? Does everyone now need to be supervised
by big brother?
By
June 19, 2006 09:01 PM | Link to this
k this is the internet. it’s for entertainment. not to meet folks, marry folks, things like that.
I would like to know where the parents or parent was at and why this 14 year old girl was
allowed to meet “a guy” off the internet? i would also like to know why the parent didn’t
monitor the internet being used and what for by this girl.
By Apu
June 19, 2006 08:42 PM | Link to this
If your child is walking down the street and a man pulls up and offers a piece of candy
and your child gets in…
Do you sue the candy company for providing such an irresistable product? Do you sue
the car company for providing the criminal a means of transportation?
In the end it was your child that got in the car.
By Joe
June 19, 2006 08:37 PM | Link to this
Parents are responsible for their children on-line. End of story.
By Patrick
June 19, 2006 08:20 PM | Link to this
I agree with about all of the previous commentary. We have become a society where no
one is held accountable for their own decisions and parents seem to think that either
children can take care of themselves or that someone else should be accountable for
them. My mom made sure that I wasn’t doing something or being with someone that was
bad…and she was a single mother. This mother did something wrong and won’t admit
it..it’s that simple.
By Annie
June 19, 2006 08:16 PM | Link to this
I remember when the internet became popular when I was in middle school - I went to
chat rooms while a teenager, but my parents would read the conversations over my
shoulders to make sure I was chatting safely until I showed that I was mature enough to
avoid dangerous situations. I thought my parents were a pain but I’m glad they strictly
controlled my internet use to protect me. Parents really need to step up to the
responsibility of monitoring their children’s internet use.
By Linda
June 19, 2006 08:06 PM | Link to this
What is this mom thinking?? As a mom of 2 grown daughters, I think it’s her
responsibility to raise her daughter to know the difference between right and wrong.
Apparently that hasn’t happened or her daughter would never have even thought about
giving her cell phone number to a stranger or worse yet, agreeing to meet him. This
whole thing is mom’s fault. She should be held responsible just as parents are when their
kids skip school, etc. She needs to give up on the greed case now!!
By lisa
June 19, 2006 08:05 PM | Link to this
MySpace was an accident waiting to happen. With prime time shows like Dateline
making it a point to showcase what child predators can and will do online and off,
MySpace had an obligation to protect minors. Parents can only do so much. I say that as
the mother of a 15 year old who is online and I use a keystroke logger to monitor her
activity. That said, MySpace looked the other way when protecting kids was the issue and
allowed the unthinkable to happen. They must be held accountable.
By Jay
June 19, 2006 08:01 PM | Link to this
what people won’t do to make a quick dollar. Good Grief. 30 million dollars for a
parent’s mistake huh? Pathetic… whats the 30 mill for? An endless shopping spree? thats
why parentla controls were mazde for.. learn them.. love them.
By Jon Airheart
June 19, 2006 07:58 PM | Link to this
I love the quote “MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting
children online…” Umm, yeah - that’s how businesses are run, Sherlock. It is a parent’s
responsibility to protect their children!
By HungrySteve
June 19, 2006 07:50 PM | Link to this
The parents are the ones that should be sued. They have a responsibility to protect their
children.
By kathy
June 19, 2006 07:49 PM | Link to this
This women and her daughter are taking advantage of the system by suing. I am sorry
that the girl was assaulted but this is the mother’s fault for not knowing what her daughter
was up to. I have a n 18 old daughter and 14 year old son, they both use MySpace but
they seem to have a little more common sense. The world is full of bad people and you
need to warn your children about it!
By Kenneth
June 19, 2006 07:45 PM | Link to this
I wonder how many online readers Statesman.com would have if everyone had to
“verify” their identity with a credit card or DLN? Come on.
By SimonTek
June 19, 2006 07:35 PM | Link to this
Lets roll back 50 years or so, before Dr. Spock. Lets bring back DISAPLINE. (I spelled
that so wrong.) I got spankings as a kid, it taught me to respect people, and to think
before I acted to a degree. A time out teaches nothing.
By michael
June 19, 2006 07:29 PM | Link to this
Just rediculous. I would have cared, but now the true colors shine. I could be lead to
believe she fabricated this whole thing thereby making him innocent.
By Wenz
June 19, 2006 07:24 PM | Link to this
Umm….. article says “The Web site does nothing to verify the age of the user, such as
requiring a driver’s license….” and just how is a 14 year old going to provide a driver’s
license number?
By J_Ro3
June 19, 2006 07:19 PM | Link to this
Clearly, the girl made a wrong choice, she is at a stage in life called adolecent ego
ceterism(she feels nothing bad can happen to her, those things happen to other people).
As a parent I would also want to seek a scapegoat, but being on the outside looking in, it
seems it is clearly a lack of effective parenting. Part of the responsibility of living in a
free soceity is giving guidence to our growing children! A television or computer is not a
suitable caretaker, but a lazy way out parenting.
By Gomorrah
June 19, 2006 07:06 PM | Link to this
Yes, there are ways to contact people who are underage on Myspace. But did you know
that now, ALL profiles below a certain age (not sure the exact age, believe it is 15 or 16)
are set to PRIVATE as a default, and cannot be changed by the user. The girl and her
parents are at blame, plain and simple. When he contacted her, she should have simply
deleted the message and ignored him. Two clicks of the mouse and it would have all been
over. The guy is getting what he deserves. That IT.
By Beth
June 19, 2006 07:02 PM | Link to this
You know, we should be more sympathetic. What happened to this young girl is
TRAGIC. Though it was of her own making, to an extent. No one deserves what that guy
did to her. But MySpace does not need to be sued because the girl wasn’t smart enough
NOT to give out her phone number to someone she doesn’t know. As far as the under 16
MySpace accounts go, you only have to be a friend to view them, just request, and voila!
As far as that goes, people lie about their age ALL THE TIME!
By
June 19, 2006 06:38 PM | Link to this
Re Gloria Hinojosa-Bauge:
When I was 11 my parents didn’t have to worry about me getting IMed from a pervert,
because I wasn’t allowed to use any sort of chat program then. I wasn’t allowed online at
all unless one of my parents was there. Furthermore, I was not allowed out alone on a
date, esp. with someone that my parents hadn’t met!
A few rules can go a long way to keeping kids safe.