it's all Myspace's fault... not

From Washington Post of 15 February 2007
Judge: MySpace Guiltless In Child Assault
Frank Ahrens

Yesterday, a Texas judge tossed out a lawsuit against MySpace, the world's biggest social-networking site brought by the family of a 13-year-old girl assaulted by a man who found her through her MySpace page.

The man, 19-year-old Pete Solis of Texas, lied about himself on his MySpace page to gain the trust of the girl, who is identified as Julie Doe in the suit. He was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child last year.

Doe's family sued MySpace for $30 million and their case was joined by other families who had experienced similar assaults. MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, and is fighting legislative efforts to restrict access to the site at school and library computers.

In dismissing the suit, the judge wrote: "To impose a duty under these circumstances for MySpace to confirm or determine the age of each applicant, with liability resulting from negligence in performing or not performing duty, would of course stop MySpace's business in its tracks and close this avenue of communication..."

In the end, according to the judge, "If anyone had a duty to protect Julie Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace."

More and more parents are absolving themselves of their parental responsibilities. Not surprising in a society where people litigate rather than take personal responsibility.

If people don't want individual rights and responsibilities, they may as well live in North Korea.