Via Broken Toys comes a report that MySpace is being sued for $30 million by a mother who claims her
underage daughter was sexually assaulted by a man she met on MySpace. Leaving aside the obvious parental unfitness the mother has demonstrated in her hypocritical attempt to pass the responsibility for bad parenting to MySpace (See? We can all engage in histronics.), what annoys me about this is the obvious attempt to fling a stone at the nearest big company in the hopes of knocking a settlement to the ground. This woman’s daughter was allegedly assaulted in Travis County, in the state of Texas, in the United States. Why not sue Texas on this logic, since that’s where the assault actually occured? Surely where the assault takes place is more relevant than where the assailant met the victim. Why not sue the US government, since it failed to prevent the assault from actually taking place? How about an automaker, since no doubt cars were involved in transporting the victim to the place of victimization?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
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June 20th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Nathan Black
Or how about the cell phone carrier that she used. I mean she did give him her cell phone number (through myspace tho… Maybe they do have a case!).
Maybe, she should sue the asshole who actually perpetrated the crime. Oh wait, Rupert Murdock has more money…
June 20th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Pentharian
Come now, you’re thinking too small! Obviously what we need to do here is sue God for creating us with imperfections.
January 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Joanne
You guys, stop being so sarcastic. This can happen to good and fit parents. I truly believe that myspace site is making it easier for predators and child molesters. See, now the site is discussing security measures. Isn’t it kind of late? A lot of youngsters have already been hurt! I am sure they have received a lot of complaints from parents but never did anything about them untill someone sues them. I applaud the families who came forward to sue myspace.com. You guys would not know how parents feel when their child was hurt, unless you are a parent yourself. Why don’t people just spend more time with their families and friends, instead of wasting time on myspace.com??!!!?? Get into the reality world, guys!
January 19th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Marc/Richter
I believe the reason for the sarcasm is because the blame is being displaced. It’s just like when people like Jack Thompson blame video games for violence, when it was the person themself who is to blame. The mother is stated as “unfit” because she tried to displace the blame. The blame squarely falls on the shoulders of the man who assaulted her, and the girl who went to meet him. Partial blame may lie with the mother, however a rational person understands that you cannot protect your children from everything.
Also, the site is now discussing security measures for the same reasons computer systems were not “immunized’ against viruses 10 years ago. The problems didn’t exist, at least not on a large-scale level. You fix problems as they occur, unless you have incredible foresight, or are omniscient.
Your statement regarding applauding people who sue myspace is on par with a story I heard regarding someone who stole his neighbor’s lawnmower, ran over his own foot, and sued the neighbor. It’s lunacy, and idiocy. Get into the reality world!
January 19th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
MiniWuffy
I thought this kinda’ crap was banned in the US… after that fat dude sued McDonald’s for making him fat. Or did that only apply to suing restaurants for making people obese?
January 20th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Rhyke
Oh joy.
Someone just made a MySpleen page using my info, photos, etc.
In my name, in my bla blah lah.
And MySpleen admins have yet to take my reques to mind and take it DOWN.
MySpleen- Making the world of teens a living hell