This oughta start the flaming

SouthernN'Proud

SouthernN'Proud

Southern Discomfort
Teenage girl en route to Israel to meet MySpace buddy

Good afternoon ladies, gentlemen, and prof. The topic today is, what do you think of MySpace? Do you subscribe to the theory that it is no more or less dangerous than other, less publicized websites? Do you support it as a "vital networking resource for teens"? (I borrowed that quote from somewhere) Do you feel it should be closely monitored, but by whom? Do you feel it is a tragedy waiting to happen? Do you allow your children to have a site there, or to access it without supervision?

Doughnuts and coffee are on the table in the rear of the room.
 
Girl sues MySpace for getting her assaulted

Sue the medium

By INQUIRER newsdesk: Monday 19 June 2006, 23:20
A 14 YEAR-OLD girl who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on MySpace.com has launched a $30 million lawsuit against its operators.

The lawsuit is critical of the fact Myspace does not verify the age of its users and calls measures in place to stop grizly old geezers grooming sweet young things as "utterly ineffective." The suit alleges Myspace fails in its duty to protect minors.

A lawyer representing the girl's family told reporters, "MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online."

The girl and her family filed the suit against Myspace owner News Corp as well as the 19 year-old accused of fiddling with her.

The girl gave out her mobile phone number to the bloke after she met him on the site. She says that after the pair went out one time to see a film and have a bite to eat, he drove her to a car park and sexually assaulted her.

And that's Myspace's fault. µ
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Source
 
MySpace is evil. Not because of its existence but because foolish parents allow their unescorted children to play in the pedophile heaven & have no idea.

*OK, MySpace isn't really the problem but I get yelled at when I expect parents to do their job
 
Ahemmm

You all are over looking a small detail..

Authorities filed a runaway juvenile petition against a Michigan teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on the MySpace.com Internet site.
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If it was not for this fact this would not have made the press. Not just running away but were she was running to, a country in the middle east, Isreal. If it was to another state it could have been diferent.

Now the big question, were are the parents in all this? A child under the age of 18 is the parents responsibility.

Next question is how did she come about the resourses to fly to Jordan enroute to Isreal? How had she come up with a legitimate(?) passport without parental consent..
 
Actually, the two posts right above yours both mention (sarcastically) the parents. As for resources, she was 17. At that age, I'm hoping she's working some. And lots of kids that age have passports. I had one from nearly birth. Always sat in Mum's desk drawer. No great challenge for me to access it. At 17, I expect she was given the resposability of it herself, along with a key to the front door, and her driver's license/Medicare cards.
 
if it's a place where fucked up shit happens - and it's a public place - then sure, monitor it. no different than busting people for lewd acts at rest stops. (ever notice the signs at rest stops in the vicinity around san francisco? they're worth a good laugh. no plooking in the stalls!)

is the phone company at fault for 'heavy breather' calls? nope. is myspace responsible for whatever? nope. not beyond cooperating with any legitimate law enforcement activity.
 
It's a tragedy waiting to happen. But so is high school/letting them grow up. So *shrug*.

I won't allow him (my eldest) to have one at this point, and later unsupervised, but at the same time I know that won't stop him from going on to it elsewhere (at school, at his buddy's house), and he has to grow up sometime, so I can't keep it away forever. He'll be on it some year.

Just gotta pray I've made him smart enough by the time he does.

I'd like them perhaps to allow law enforcement into the inside of the workings (as some high schools do now), at least when it's involving accounts where one is a minor, but I won't count on it.
 
I think a certain amount of skepticism on the part of the children and activism on the part of the parents can stop most of this shit.

Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who is currently the ripe old age of seventeen, and has been a member at various forums for more than four years.

I think a lot of the problem is with parents that are too strict and thus are feared and distrusted by their children. If you know that Mom is going to say no, you're not going to ask her whether or not you can meet your e-buddy in Israel.

The trick is being reasonable with the kids. Be involved and make sure that the kids know that you will listen to their point of view without blowing them off. That makes mutual trust between parents and children. Then when the child wants to do something risky, they go to the parents and ask for advice, and the parents can make sure that the child is safe.

I've been a member at a headphone website for about two and a half years. Being that sound is subjective and all that, the people get together for 'meets' periodically, everyone bringing their audio equipment and spending an afternoon listening and discussing. I found out about it and decided that I wanted to attend. But since my parents did a good job with me, I respected and trusted them enough to ask them what they thought. They traded e-mails with the guys running the meet, and when the day of the meet came, they drove me there and met with the people to make sure it was alright. By now, I've been to about ten of them, going as far as 150 miles. Never had a bad experience.

I have mixed feelings about myspace. It is a decent way to keep in touch with people if you are trying to keep in touch with a lot of people, but it doesn't really create anything new, it just makes communications simpler for most people. I have one, and I completely ignore it usually. If I need to reach my friend, I have a phone number. If they don't pick up, I have their ICQ UIN and their e-mail address.

Myspace just unifies e-mail, IM, and forums into one interface designed for the computer illiterate. It's no more dangerous for pedophiles than forums or e-mail alone, except that it brings it to a wider audience with less internet savvy and thus more likeily to fall for tricks. If I had kids, I would encourage them to have a myspace, but I would also keep an eye on it. I'd rather have an enemy I can see than one I don't know about.
 
I like it as a means of keeping in touch with friends of mine. I just wish parents played more of a role so shit like this doesn't happen and sites like myspace get blamed for it
 
Altron said:
Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who is currently the ripe old age of seventeen, .
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So.

I would like to hear from you what you think rules should be on the internet for a 12-14 year old boy (who thinks he's a l33t h4ck3r).

I'm at a loss.
 
Altron said:
If you know that Mom is going to say no, you're not going to ask her whether or not you can meet your e-buddy in Israel.
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My how times have changed. Never in my wildest thoughts would I have even considered meeting someone in Israel as a teenager. I knew what I could expect. After the laughter died down, I'd get a combat boot to the ass for being so stupid. And trust me, I pulled plenty of shit as a teenager without having to go to Israel, convert to Islam, and shack up with someone there who for all I knew was their version of Charlie Manson.

We called it common sense.

By the bye, our 13.18 year old won't be doing it either. So any
l33t h4ck3rs
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out there just move on, find some other kid with more enlightened parents. We're hardasses.





Of course, our kid is still alive too....
 
Leslie said:
So.

I would like to hear from you what you think rules should be on the internet for a 12-14 year old boy (who thinks he's a l33t h4ck3r).

I'm at a loss.
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If he's dead set on having a myspace, make sure you talk about it with him and explain all of the dangers. Tell him "I'm fine with you having one, but there are some bad people out there, and I want you to talk to me if you're ever nervous about someone."
That way, he's grateful that you're not a jerk like Timmy's mom down the street, and he doesn't want to piss you off because you'll take away his new priveledge if he starts messing with the wrong people.
Of course, you'll be checking it every day, so that you already know of any suspicious people before he tells you.
Don't just flat out say 'no' because it's a good way for him to make one at school or at a friend's house.
But don't just flat out say 'yes' either, because you won't have any idea what he's doing. Make sure he knows that he has some freedom, but there are boundries, and crossing those boundries will result in loss of those freedoms.

If he's not dead set on it, talk him out of it.

Gonz, the problem, as you well know, is that too many parents are content to just sit back and let the children fend for themselves, then if anything bad happens, send out the lawyers. It's not myspace's fault that this happened. It's her parents. They should be more involved in their child's life and be like 'Hey, what do you mean you're going to Israel?' or even better, be 'What's the deal with that Israeli guy that keeps messaging you?' because they noticed it before it went that far.

My only suggestion would be to alter the myspace people-lookup search thing to not include those under 18. I don't think the problem lies with Susie walking to school with Johnny and telling him about her new myspace and how he should add her as a friend. The problem is when that sex offender pedophile on the other side of the country finds out Johnny's myspace and starts e-mailing him.
However, being able to look up people isn't all bad. Most of the people at work, in their early 20's, have one, and use it to communicate on their days off. If they want to know if someone has one, they can do a search. They're adults and don't need to be protected from pedophiles.
So, if they put the age as a minor, it should make it so that you have to know the exact URL (i.e. being known outside of myspace) to access it, whereas if you're an adult, then it should be accessible through search.

SNP, I agree with you. Most kids are stupid. Probably as a direct result of their parents not imbuing a strong sense of what's acceptable and unacceptable.
 
Altron said:
SNP, I agree with you. Most kids are stupid. Probably as a direct result of their parents not imbuing a strong sense of what's acceptable and unacceptable.
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More out of a sense of invulnerability. The "It can't happen to me" syndrome. The same thing that has kids skateboarding down stairs, trying to jump their bikes over cars and bungee-dive out of 2nd floor windows.

Talk to your kids to your heart's content..tell them all about the dangers, and they'll do it anyway.
Why?

"It can't happen to me"
 
MrBishop said:
More out of a sense of invulnerability. The "It can't happen to me" syndrome. The same thing that has kids skateboarding down stairs, trying to jump their bikes over cars and bungee-dive out of 2nd floor windows.

Talk to your kids to your heart's content..tell them all about the dangers, and they'll do it anyway.
Why?

"It can't happen to me"
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But [insert name or pronoun here] kids are/will be different.
 
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