February 15 roundup

MySpace wins sexual abuse suit (Jan. 19 and links therein) in federal court; no matter to the trial lawyer, who said he’d just forum-shop refile in state court with new plaintiffs. [Forbes.com; Bashman link roundup] Dunder Mifflin, defendant (via Lattman). Earlier: Bruce Wayne, defendant. More links on the teacher facing jail over class computer porn […]

One Comment

  • These MySpace suits are sadly misguided. The Internet is an incredibly unsafe tool to give minors unfettered access to. Realtime communications with random strangers from around the planet is not a scenario we can make “safe”. And turning MySpace into a foam padded McDonald’s playground will not give parents the freedom to let their kiddos roam freely online. MySpace doesn’t need age verification checks, the Internet does – and the age verification responsibility is best handled by parents (unless we’d prefer UN issued ID cards for Internet access, I guess). I don’t wish tragedy on any family but parents who shirk their responsibility to protect their children from unsafe environments don’t illicit much sympathy from me (though the kids hurt by parental irresponsibility do).