MySpace Action Dismissed

A U.S. district court has dismissed a lawsuit against MySpace, the popular social networking website. The $30 million action was brought by the family of a 13-year old girl who claims that she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year old man she met on MySpace. The suit named MySpace, its parent company News Corp, and the accused male (whose criminal trial has not occurred), and claimed that MySpace is at fault because it does not have measures to protect children who use it. The claim particularly alleges that the male defendant incorrectly stated on his MySpace profile that he was a high school senior, and that he used that false information to gain the victim’s trust and phone number.

The district court judge relied on the U.S. Communications Decency Act, which protects online service providers from liability for wrongdoings committed by their users. The judge stated that MySpace cannot be expected to verify the age of every user (the website has over 100 million user accounts), and that the Communications Decency Act creates important immunity for online service providers, without which such parties would be crippled by lawsuits arising from third-party communications.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer says that an appeal is imminent, and is quoted as saying that “MySpace knows its website is a playground for sexual predators” and that MySpace should therefore implement certain basic safety precautions.

For additional information, visit:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/16703654.htm

Volume V

MySpace Action Dismissed