$30M Lawsuit Against MySpace Is Dismissed

Judge Says Site Can't Be Expected To Verify Ages Of All Users

(AP)  A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the social networking Web site MySpace filed by the family of a 13-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met online.

The $30 million lawsuit accused the site of having no measures to protect children who use it. The lawsuit also named MySpace's parent company, News Corp., and the 19-year-old, whose criminal case has not yet gone to trial.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said MySpace is protected under the Communications Decency Act and cannot be expected to verify the age of every user because that "would of course stop MySpace's business in its tracks."

The decency act cited by Sparks generally grants immunity to interactive computer services such as MySpace so that they are not liable for content posted by users. Without immunity, companies such as MySpace "would be crippled by lawsuits arising out of third-party communications," Sparks wrote.

An attorney for the girl and her family said they will file an appeal.

"This is allowing sites like MySpace to avoid the responsibility to make the Internet safe for children," Jason Itkin said. "MySpace knows its Web site is a playground for sexual predators. Because of that, MySpace should be doing some very basic safety precautions."

In a statement, MySpace officials applauded the judge's decision that the company isn't responsible for "wrongdoing committed by individuals who visit our site."

The lawsuit was brought by the Austin girl, who alleges that Pete Solis, of Buda, lied in his MySpace profile about being a high school senior to gain her trust and phone number. Solis was arrested May 19 on a charge of sexual assault of a child.

MySpace, which has become a lightning rod for warnings about online sexual predators, is a social networking Web site that lets users post photos, blogs and journals. There have been scattered accounts of sexual predators targeting minors they met through the site.

The site has more than 100 million registered users and purports to be the most visited Web site in the United States.

[yeahsure69]

since when are parents not held responsible for the actions of their children ?

The plain truth is no child should be allowed onto the internet without their computer being monitored. You can get software that monitors everything they do and can send reports via email to the parent. Unfortunately to many parents cave in to the misguided belief that their children have actual rights to privacy when it comes to mediums like the internet. They do not and as long as they live under your roof they live by your rules end of discussion and end of debate.

This lawsuit was just a money a grab and quite frankly she deserved what she got. Besides whats the difference between a 19 year old and a legal 17 year old in this case ? I might be sympathetic had the guy been 30 or something. But 19 ? believe you me that little 16 year old wanted to have *** with that guy regardless of age.

[legendary240]

Children do not a verifiable form of identification to prove their age anyway. At keast there is one judge in the land with a brain.

[anopinion1]

it was a 13 year old girl yeasure69

besides where was the parents on this anyway, how did a 13 get out on her own to have this happen.

[gmond]

Common sense prevails, for a change.

[cadmantwo]

What a wonderful story! We need more judges like Sam Sparks, and less shysters like Jason Itkin. Actually, what we need are laws that provide monetary penalties for losing plaintiffs and their lawyers in bs cases like these. Hooray for Judge Sparks!

[olebd]

It would be interesting to see the transcripts of the online chat. I wonder if she said she was older? Kids this age are very curious about *** and probably do want to try it.

Too bad she had no apparent parental guidance when she needed it.

[fawnaleah]

I have 2 teens and both have myspace pages but then so do I. My Husband and I use mine to monitor what they are doing and saying. We regulary check and ask who their friends are do they know them from school? Swimming? We monitor everything they do on the computer. Thank *** the judge has brains enough to not let the parents get away with trying to blame someone else for their lack of involvement with their child.

[lochlan-2009]

While I am happy that the judge stopped a surge of frivolous lawsuits from greedy attorneys and the parasites of the world, I can't help but see similarities between the Myspace suit and the file trading companies (Napster, Kazaa, etc.) How can a judge say, "MySpace is protected under the Communications Decency Act and cannot be expected to verify the age of every user," when they just ruled that the file traders are responsible for people who are trading copywriten material? How can the file traders be expected to verify that every file traded has copywrite protection or not? According to this judge, they should have been protected from the recording industry by the Communications Decency Act? It all seems a little hypocritical.

[michaure]

How is it that's it's Myspace's job to make the website safe for children and not the parents job?!
Lazy parents. All about Money, if they taught the daugther right,this would've never happend stupid kid stupid parents.

[passerby2]

it's dstupid people like this that ruins it for everyone else. if they took the time to be more involved with their children then this might have been avoided. even if the guy was a sixteen year old she would of had s.e.x with him anyways, she was out to have s.ex period. now the parents are trying to get a free ride through life, it's ludicrous.

[smb221]

It's her own *** fault for meeting someone on the internet that she didn't know. And where were the parents while this was going on?

[agnim]

Another idiot judge who should be disbarred!

No doubt this judge is one of those pervs who prowl Myspace.
He's more concerned about the welfare of his Myspace (an inanimate entity) than he is about welfare of children.

Is Myspace business to take precedent over the welfare of children? Tsk-tsk

If the space is ADVERTISED TO CHILDREN and it can't keep its predators out, then MySpace should cease to exist; because it is unworkable!

[sylhyntm]

Anyone who thinks it is Myspace's responsibility to parent their or anyone else's child needs a serious brain check.

Parent's who fail to adequately supervise and guard their children against these possibilities and then wish to blame other's for their failures should have to give their children up to other, more responsible adults.

Would the same parents allow their children to waltz through Central park at night? Have not the repeated broadcasts of warnings and safety tips not crossed their minds? Are they just too *** lazy to enforce some parenting?

Sheesh - what morons!

[love_you-2009]

hihi ,
She ****** that guy and i am sure she enjoyed.

Now her low life parents want money! ***!

Looks like trading her virginity for money.

Myspace is a large online community and you can see diffrent kind of people.

its the parents job to monitore there children not myspace!

[dogsoul]

Bravo to this judge for slamming the gavel of common sense down on these parasite lawyers & blame shifting parents. There are an infinite number of internet based potential contact points - online forums, chat rooms, personal pages, email etc... just as there are countless numbers of parks, playgrounds, public streets, coffee shops, county fairs, etc... heck, even cell phones & snail mail can & HAVE been used by predators. So does that mean T-mobile is responsible if your daughter starts chatting it up with a predator? Hotmail? Is the City Council responsible if he meets up with her on the street? Of course not... unless we ban any & all public meeting places, including internet-based ones - how can we hold those places responsible for the actions of a predator and/or the negligence of certain parents?

[cornflower3]

they found time to visit a lawyer, but never found the time to find out what their daughter was doing. good for the judge for now allowing it. ashame he wasn't the judge on the mcdonald's case for the lady who didn't know coffee was hot.