Parents Sue MySpace
I have two stories to post and share with you today; but I will be doing them separately. This is the first…
MySpace Being Sued by Parents
WNDU-TV/ NBC 16Legal attacks against MySpace are mounting.
Attorney generals in dozens of states have filed complaints against the popular social networking website.
And now, five families are suing MySpace, after five teenage girls claim they were sexually assaulted by men they met through the site.
Like millions of people around the world, they posted their profiles on the popular website Myspace.com
And it was through that website, five teenage girls in five different cities claim they were attacked. Jason Itkin Attorney for the Families explains, “They were lured from their homes and brutally sexually assaulted.”
Now, the girls’ families are suing the Beverly Hillsbased website and its parent company, News Corp saying the company does not do enough to protect children. “The reason these young children were able to come into contact with these sexual predators was because MySpace lacks the type of safety precautions necessary to protect young children,” Itkin says.
In response to the attacks, MySpace stepped up its safety protections in the past week announcing plans to install parental monitoring software on the site.
It is also forwards amber alerts to its 100 million members.
But, MySpace emphasizes, “Ultimately, internet safety is a shared responsibility. We encourage everyone to apply common sense offline safety lessons in their online experiences and engage in open family dialogue about smart web practices.”
Al Kush of Wiredsafety.org says, “It’s kinda difficult for any internet agency that has 100 million members to really police all the activity that is going on.” He also states that while he understands parents’ frustration, precedence does not support the lawsuits. “It’d be like suing a telephone company for somebody who’s issuing a ransom demand over the phone. It’s just a medium that these things are taking place on.”
It could take two years before the cases go to trial.
Really? This is what we’ve become? Forget about the argument of frivolous lawsuits, but why can’t parents put accountability on themselves?
WHY WOULD YOU let your teenage daughter be on MySpace and not watch her?!?! It’s completely irresponsible and you know it. You know it’s your fault. But rather than change your ways and be a better parent and apologize to your child for letting her even do that… no – you sue the website. Bravo, you cowards. Maybe you should have thought twice before having kids. Clearly you weren’t ready for the responsibility and accountability that goes along with it.
I bet you thought all along your child would never do something like that, right? No, not your perfect angel. She’d never do something so teenager-ish as take a risk and want to meet an older guy.
Secondly, how much more proof do you other parents need to convince you that these guys do exist?! You need to be monitoring your child online, you need to be paying attention and talking to them. You need to be using a tool like PC Pandora. If you aren’t doing these three things, you are failing as a net-generation parent.
Stay tuned for another rant…
October 8th, 2009 at 1:44 PM
The modern-day parent it seems thinks it is “everyone’s fault but mine.” While it is unfortunate and sad that these girls were attacked; parents need to be aware of what their child is doing online. Some parents I hear sign up as well and have their kid on their friend list (which helps a small bit).
It goes both ways, and I feel Myspace doesn’t need to babysit everyone’s kid if the parents are too stupid to do so!