Court: MySpace not liable for offline assaults

Social-networking sites and other Web services can't be held liable in a sexual assault on a minor that stemmed from a meeting online, according to a ruling in a California appeals court that consolidated a number of complaints against MySpace on behalf of teenage girls and their parents.

Reuters reported late on Wednesday that the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles cited the Communications Decency Act in coming to the conclusion. Claiming negligence and product liability, the plaintiffs had alleged that MySpace had failed to put in place age verification software or to keep profiles on a "private" setting.

Other federal courts have come to similar rulings. Last year, a Texas court ruled that the family of a 14-year-old girl who was assaulted by a man she met on MySpace could not hold the social network responsible. The girl in question had lied about her age when she created a profile, claiming to be a legal adult, and the court ruled that it was her parents' job, not MySpace's, to keep her safe.

This week's ruling in Los Angeles received a thumbs-up from MySpace and parent company News Corp. It could also have repercussions across other social networks and community-based Web sites, which have been subject to scrutiny from authorities over both safety and decency standards. Craigslist, for example, has faced a crackdown on sex-related ads after both allegations of rampant prostitution and a high-profile case in which a Craigslist encounter allegedly ended in murder.

The situation can be different, if there is actual harassment conducted through the social network, rather than an offline assault. In that case, if it appears that a Web service isn't doing enough to keep members safe while using the site, it can, in some cases, be held responsible.

Facebook and MySpace are working with state attorneys general to keep registered sex offenders out of their user bases, following allegations from lawmakers that they weren't doing enough to maintain a safe environment for minors.

On Thursday, the sentencing is expected in another Los Angeles court for Lori Drew, who has been convicted of three misdemeanors after impersonating a teenage boy on MySpace and harassing a 13-year-old girl allegedly to the point of suicide.

Drew could be sentenced to up to three years in prison and forced to pay a fine of $300,000, a far lesser sentence than she originally faced.

[alflanagan]

Well, duh.

[todd3617]

Isn't this obvious. It's like trying to say a school is responsible if a kid gets beat up on their property. And the girl that lied about her age, well she had it coming to her. I see all sorts of kids on Myspace that say they are way older than they look. Parents should be the ones that get sued.

[pentest]

You are disgusting.

She "had it coming"?

She acted foolish and is a hard life-lesson, but she did not deserve it.

[RobertAPierce]

Wow, you mean, like, it's really the parents who should be making sure their kids are not doing anything dangerous? Not Myspace? Who would have thunk it? ;)

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Since parents are now my age...and my generation is full of stupid people...ergo...

[berg0011]

<Rant>Giving kids unrestricted internet use without any monitoring tools... ect. is asinine and is the equivalent of dropping your kid off in the middle of a city at 2 AM... It's not a good idea and these parents are not tech savvy/ privacy savvy enough and them and their kids shouldn't be allowed near the internet!!!!</Rant>

[Harrison912]

I completely agree, berg0011. It's time parents took responsbility for their children's safety and security online as well as off line. Blaming it on someone else is just weak. One of the reasons I opened my online safety and security web site is so I can bring to our communities products to help parents be more vigilent. There are lots of things parents can obtain to help them with their family's safety such as non-lethal protective devices, electronic child leashes to help alert parents of a wandering toddler, nanny cams to help parents keep an eye on their children when they're away and keyloggers to help parents monitor their teens online presence.

We're all busy but we should never be too busy to keep our children and teens safe. There's plenty of help out there if you jus know where to look for it. Money can be tight but some how we find money for eating out, for toys, for cars that we don't really need and other frivalities so why not invest in some products to keep your family safe? The court is right, it's not MySpce's job to do this.