Mother sues Myspace for 30 million.

mountainyman · 22-06-2006 02:33PM

28064212 wrote:

Who's going to police this by the way?

The responsible authorities.

If these websites are nothing more than a perverts supermarket it is time to shut them down.

MM

Ciaran500 · 22-06-2006 02:35PM

I can only hope you are just trolling at this stage.

Stark · 22-06-2006 02:36PM

mountainyman wrote:

How many more children will they allow to be raped.

They receive $1000 per child. Therefore to recoup the 30 million, they'll need to allow 30,000 more children to be raped.

What? They have to make their money somehow.

markpb · 22-06-2006 02:37PM

jor el wrote:

How exactly could Myspace have prevented this? Moderate every single post, comment or email that goes through the site?

mountainyman wrote:

An easy and simple solution; that would have prevented this little girl from being raped. MYSpace were negligent in not implementing it.

I'm not sure if you're trolling or just letting your emotions cloud your thinking. MySpace and Bebo carry millions of messages and comments each week. Do you think someone could go through all of them before they're send? Do you know how many people that would take and how it would delay those messages to the point of making the site a waste of time.

Similarly, do you think An Post should read all our mail to make sure no-one is sending messages to kids through the post or Eircom listen to all our calls? It's not feasible and honestly, not worth it.

If they did do this, kids (and adults) would just choose another, unmoderated, forum such as text messages, email, boards or irc. Should these be moderated too? Where do you draw the line?

Is it unfortunate that the girl was attacked? Absolutely.
Is there anything MySpace could have done? I don't think so and you haven't suggested anything plausible yet.

You people (collectively- NOT Jor El and Dragan specifically) are like the people on the forties who now say they didnt know what was going on in Industrial schools.

We KNOW CHILDREN ARE BEING RAPED BECAUSE OF MYSPACE. How can you defend this. th e site should be closed down at once.

Children are being raped for lots of reasons (and were raped before MySpace and will be raped if its shut down). You can shout on the internet and point fingers all you like, the only real way to stop it happening is for parents to educate their children and to watch them where possible. I'm not advocating 24 hour monitoring, but there is a happy medium.

Hobbes · 22-06-2006 02:37PM

28064212 wrote:

what's your point?

My point was showing how people seem to think that MySpace is somehow free.

As for policing your child on the internet. I tried explaining this to my niece and her mother that putting her onto the internet is like dropping her off in the dodgy part of town in the middle of the night.

I got blank looks from them.. Then I showed them this and they copped on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sUt2R1U4hY

22-06-2006 02:37PM

mountainyman wrote:

A simple way for myspace to anticipate and dealt with the problem would have been to make under 18s pass a test on internet safety and include safety checks in their algorithims.

Lots of people pass driving tests every year. Doesn't mean they're not going to speed. "Safety checks in their algorithms"? What does that mean? Also, I'd just like to point out that no-where in the article does it state what age the girl signed on as.

eiretamicha · 22-06-2006 02:40PM

rb_ie wrote:

It's f*cking ridiculous that they're trying to put the blame on MySpace for this, it's all down to neglegent parenting aswell as the daughter being a little whore, MySpace aren't in anyway to blame.

Whoa, hold up a minute. You have no idea if the girl was a "little whore" or not. Many people meet online, and then meet in real life, with no whore-ish intentions. This could have simply been a case of 14 year old highschool girl thinks boy is cute, boy says he's 18 and in high school, girl thinks it'd be fun to meet up with him, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, boy rapes girl. It's terrible and it happens every day. The truth of the matter is that there are plenty of people and things we could place blame upon, but that should not be what's important during this tragic time.

The sad thing is, because of the huge amount of publicity over the parents' lawsuit, we'll probably never get the full truth. Then again, the parents could be sueing for such a large sum because of the publicity they knew it would cause--they could simply be trying to spread awareness to other parents and teens.

22-06-2006 02:40PM

mountainyman wrote:

The responsible authorities.

The authorities responsible for a child's well-being are their parents

egan007 · 22-06-2006 02:43PM

"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

LOL!
How Ironic...

thelordofcheese · 22-06-2006 02:44PM

mountainyman wrote:

A simple way for myspace to anticipate and dealt with the problem would have been to make under 18s pass a test on internet safety and include safety checks in their algorithims.

'safety checks' like what, exactly?
I'm constantly amazed at the 'solutions' put forward for these things, and how little thought seems to go into them.

mountainyman wrote:

They did nothing and a little girl has been raped.

Lets assume the onus is on MySpace to protect people from themselves,what were they meant to do?

mountainyman wrote:

This is gross negligence and myspace should pay. What is 30 million for a ruined life?

It's nothing of the sort, trying to justify a cynical court case with the 30Million price tag does little more than cheapen the seriousness of what happened.

mountainyman wrote:

How many more children will they allow to be raped.

You have phrased a lot of your sound bites like MySpace actively facilitates paedophiles, which is rubbish. Please stop it, it's burying any decent point you may be trying to make.

thebaz · 22-06-2006 02:45PM

28064212 wrote:

That's very basic parenting. Any kind of 'parenting' or 'keeping safe online' guide will tell you no child should be allowed use a computer unsupervised. Allowing a child to keep a computer in their room is practically asking for trouble

Have you lived with any teenagers recently ?
Are you saying chilren (i assume you mean under 16) should not be allowed use computers un-supervised ?
I am not an expert , but i would get guess that 40- 50% of under 16s use computers unsupervised -- who do you think is using bebo , the 2nd most popular website in Ireland .
Maybe you are the exception, but the reality is quite different, parents have lives as well and can not just track there offspring consistently , unless they want to molly coddle them , and then they'll get bullied at school ... responsibility is whats needed .. the reality is cyber teenage bullying is probably more of a threat than the chance of a minor being raped by an adult.

Dragan · 22-06-2006 02:49PM

mountainyman wrote:

obviously they shouldn't employ paedophiles and should take steps to vet staff and coaches.

I fear the kiddy fidlers don't come with a sticker on there forehead. I have begun to get the impression that you are sitting on this issue purely from the point of moral outrage, as opposed to any particular experience with the issue.....though i may be wrong.

As such, it's not as easy as saying "you shouldn't employ them" if all Pedo's were known, and there was a register then maybe you would have a point.....however not all Pedo's are known.....you would be pretty suprised at who would harbour thoughts like that were you able to read minds. :rolleyes:

22-06-2006 02:52PM

thebaz wrote:

Have you lived with any teenagers recently ?
Are you saying chilren (i assume you mean under 16) should not be allowed use computers un-supervised ?
I am not an expert , but i would get guess that 40- 50% of under 16s use computers unsupervised -- who do you think is using bebo , the 2nd most popular website in Ireland .
Maybe you are the exception, but the reality is quite different, parents have lives as well and can not just track there offspring consistently , unless they want to molly coddle them , and then they'll get bullied at school ... responsibility is whats needed .. the reality is cyber teenage bullying is probably more of a threat than the chance of a minor being raped by an adult.

Yes I have, my younger brothers are 16 and 18. I advised my parents not to leave them unsupervised when I was younger. Having said that, I certainly used it unsupervised, but my parents were reasonably aware of what I was doing, and more importantly were well aware that I could be trusted

stevenmu · 22-06-2006 03:12PM

It's every parent's responsibility to ensure the safety of their kids, not myspace's. By suing myspace, this mother is effectively saying that she is not responsible for her daughter's safety, some website is. Imo this conclusively proves that the mother is negligent and unfit to have children.

thebaz · 22-06-2006 03:36PM

so should children under 16 not be allowed use computers unsupervised ?

and if under 16s do use computers unsupervised , they have unfit parents i assume.

P.S. Should under 15s also be banned from using mobile phones also, as they use these unsupervised as well .

mountainyman · 22-06-2006 03:38PM

Dragan wrote:

I have begun to get the impression that you are sitting on this issue purely from the point of moral outrage, as opposed to any particular experience with the issue.....though i may be wrong.

I don't have any real experience with social networking. I tried to send my brother a bebo; but I added it to his whiteboard and all his friends got it or something.

I believe that it must be possible using a word checker to scan messages and protect children to some extent. Myspace should implement such protections as are realistically practicable. If they have done this (i think not)they will win. If they have not they will lose.

MM

markpb · 22-06-2006 03:41PM

mountainyman wrote:

I believe that it must be possible using a word checker to scan messages and protect children to some extent. Myspace should implement such protections as are realistically practicable. If they have done this (i think not)they will win. If they have not they will lose.

You mean like the curse word filter on right here? That works a treat and doesn't stop people saying f**k and sh1t? Oops... This is my point - there's no simple solution to this problem.

the baz wrote:

so should children under 16 not be allowed use computers unsupervised ? and if under 16s do use computers unsupervised , they have unfit parents i assume.

P.S. Should under 15s also be banned from using mobile phones also, as they use these unsupervised as well .

Of course they should be allowed to use mobile phones and computers but there has to be some element of supervision and a big element of education. Parents can't expect to be uber liberal and then wring their hands when something they could have helped to prevent, happens. The two have to go hand in hand.

Dragan · 22-06-2006 03:46PM

mountainyman wrote:

I believe that it must be possible using a word checker to scan messages and protect children to some extent. Myspace should implement such protections as are realistically practicable. If they have done this (i think not)they will win. If they have not they will lose.

And check for what exaclty??? Believe it or not these sexual predators don't send messages like

"Hey Underage Girl,

i am a PEDO, I want to meet up under dodgy circumstances so that i can force you to commit sexual acts, even though that would be illegal. I do not care because i am a bad man and you are a sucker. Please do not tell your parents, then i might go to jail when i really want to be free so i can f*ck other kids

Thank you,

The Pedo"

Get real, hundred of thousands of messages must be sent on Myspace everyday, and a lot of them will simple be "We should meet up" or "Looking forward to meeting you" or "Meet you in the Mall at 10am".

You really need to get real my friend. :rolleyes:

stevenmu · 22-06-2006 03:52PM

mountainyman wrote:

I don't have any real experience with social networking. I tried to send my brother a bebo; but I added it to his whiteboard and all his friends got it or something.

I believe that it must be possible using a word checker to scan messages and protect children to some extent. Myspace should implement such protections as are realistically practicable. If they have done this (i think not)they will win. If they have not they will lose.

MM

Yes, I'm sure they can put an instant stop to all the messages saying "Hi, I'm a paedophile, please send me on your details".

There are no "realistically practicable" things MySpace can do to prevent people doing what ever they like when not on the site.

mountainyman · 22-06-2006 04:00PM

They could verify new accounts with a phone call for example. what's your birthday- star sign- chinese year. etc.

You remind of ned flanders parent's

we've done nothing we're at the end of our rope

Dragan · 22-06-2006 04:03PM

mountainyman wrote:

They could verify new accounts with a phone call for example. what's your birthday- star sign- chinese year. etc.

Really, because Pedo's don't have birthdays or star signs or anything else like that.

If you really think that anything that you have suggested would help then your an idiot.....ID theft is rife in the world right now....if you really think i couldn't buy myself a new name, address and date of birth for 100eu then your dreaming my friend.

Why are you so quick to blame Myspace.......why not blame the alleged attacker?????? Or maybe the attacker listen to Metal Music....then we can blame that!!! :rolleyes:

22-06-2006 04:04PM

How many sign-ups do you think there are in a single day? You think that even if that was practicable, you think a 12 year old couldn't get around it?

22-06-2006 04:06PM

Dragan wrote:

Really, because Pedo's don't have birthdays or star signs or anything else like that.

I think they mean restrict it to over-18s

markpb · 22-06-2006 04:06PM

mountainyman wrote:

They could verify new accounts with a phone call for example. what's your birthday- star sign- chinese year. etc.

How does that work?

I, pretending to be a 14 year old girl, sign up with all those details and they ring me back asking for them? Other than my not-very-girlie voice, what would tell them I'm not the person I claim to be?

Also, that would be an explicit invasion of privacy - why should I have to give some site my personal phone number?

28064212 wrote:

I think they mean restrict it to over-18s

What does that achieve, kids will just use something else. I'm not wringing my hands and saying there's nothing we can do - I'm saying that mountainyman is putting band-aids on a broken leg. Society needs to fix the problem, not the symptoms.

Dragan · 22-06-2006 04:07PM

28064212 wrote:

I think they mean restrict it to over-18s

So then we just have kids using there sisters details to log on, because "My Space is cool.....and Gregory the Quarterback has Myspace so maybe if i have Myspace he might notice me......"

blah blah blah blah blah.

If you want to blame something blame 90210.....it all started there!!!

mountainyman · 22-06-2006 04:09PM

Dragan wrote:

If you really think that anything that you have suggested would help then your an idiot.....

I don't accept that the problem is insoluble.

MM

22-06-2006 04:14PM

mountainyman wrote:

I don't accept that the problem is insoluble.

MM

It's not. If parents take responsibility for their child's well-being, the problem disappears

Dragan · 22-06-2006 04:15PM

mountainyman wrote:

I don't accept that the problem is insoluble.

Thats your perogitive, you need to realise however that you thinking it would be a good idea to do something, and that something being possible to do and ever being done are two very different things.

I appreciate you want to see the problem solved, the simple fact is that YOU can do nothing to solve it.....non of your idea's are realistic or practical in anyway, because it is nothing to do with Myspace.

I really do find it funny that you center on the method of communication as being the problem and jump to the extreme of " rape.....close it down.....the made money from her rape.......how many more kids will Myspace allow to be raped....." etc......your just sitting there throwing out sound bytes until someone solves your problem, or your perceived problem for you.......basically pretty indicative of most people today.

Why not do some research into internet security and education in schools around the world etc , why not lobby the government for a decent register of sex offenders, why not begin an initiative to educate parents and children in internet safety????

Lots of better things you could be doing that making up "solutions" because they sound good in you head, and sitting on your moral high ground of "not accepting it".

No one is accpeting it , we're just being realistic as to the best way to stop such a thing happening again, and that would be to ensure the targets know better.

markpb · 22-06-2006 04:16PM

mountainyman wrote:

I don't accept that the problem is insoluble.

You're right - it's not! But it's not a technical problem so it won't have a technical solution. You're trying too hard to pin the blame on MySpace when, as others have pointed out, the same thing has happened numerous times without a computer being present.

The solution is education and a careful eye both by parents and society in general. You're adopting the same approach as americans have to airport security. They're trying to stop terrorists by having computers examine everyone who flies based on their PNR. Unsurprisingly, it won't work because terrorists - like paedophies - don't have profiles that can be machine determined.

The only thing that can stop people misbehaving are other people watching out for them and being careful.

subway · 22-06-2006 04:20PM

how does baords get around it?
maybe myspace can use the same method as used here?

Mother sues Myspace for 30 million.

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