Whos to Blame?
By llabteksab73
@llabteksab73 (800)
United States
March 5, 2007 8:36pm CST
Ok, well I am pretty sure we have had this discussion before, but ehh WTH Im having it again.
So I read in the news last night that MySpace is being Sued.. AGAIN.. this time by two Texas law firms representing four various famlies who's children became victims of predators from MySpace,
MySpaceSuit
the Suit Claims that MySpace has not reacted quickly enough to protect minors who use the popular website.
Question? Why should it be the Responsibilty of a website to babysit somebody else's children??
Dont get me wrong, I think there should be some protective measures to protect minor's information.. And I know MySpace has done some impleminting of many of those, and continue to implement more. But beyond that??
How is a site supposed to moniter every person your child talks to?? ensure your child only talks to people on that site and does not give off site messenger info??
And why is any Web Sites responsibility if your Child gives out their Personnel information? And Agrees( which is stupid on the kids part) to go and meet somebody who they met over the WEB.
These Kids can not be that stupid, they read and hear about the dangers every damn day, and if they agree to go and meet somebody who they dont know.. THEY ARE THE ONES TO BLAME.. not the website.
And Hello, lets SUE the parents who are not monetering their Children.. they dont who their children are talking to, what they are saying? I wonder Did ANY of these parents know where their kids were going and who they were planning to meet.
When its so much easier to be lazy parents, and then Sue a MultiMillion dollar company and accuse the Company of not keeping their children safe..
And what exactly were these parents doing to keep their children safe???
2 people like this
13 responses
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
6 Mar 07
I think that it is stupid, I mean sure, if they see something they should remove the person and so on, but the person who has the highest responsibility is the parents. The people who created the site are not responsible for all the problems in the world.
I do belive that people are suing just for the money of it.
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
6 Mar 07
By the way, I am probably one of very few that NOT have a myspace account =)
@emarie (5442)
• United States
6 Mar 07
these type of people are just plain stupid and lazy. why don't you actually try PARENTING you children. i mean, any person who was victum of a preditor, i really do feel bad for them and their family. but the only person to blame is THE PERSON WHO DID IT!!! not a website. as a parent you have the responsibility to TEACH your children about the dangers of the internet if they're older and if they're younger to monitor your childrens activities online and most important TALK TO YOUR KIDS find out what going on in their life so they won't go and meet someone without telling you. i mean, depending on the age and the information of the person, i'd let my child meet someone if they're in the area. BUT i would either be there or a sibling or close friend. NEVER alone and ALWAYS in a public place. and i'd rather they talk on the phone first to make sure they are who they say they are. i mean, i met my husbands friend online met him, then met my husband. some people just complain about EVEYTHING because they're too lazy to do their own job. parenting IS hard of course it is. and you knew that from the begining.
@tess1960 (2385)
• United States
6 Mar 07
I also think it is the lawyers fault. Some of the lawyers take on cases like this that should not be in our court systems. I agree that it is the perents responsibility to monitor the children. That is what the History button is for, duh!
1 person likes this
@mgmagana (3618)
• United States
6 Mar 07
i agree with you, i do think that it should not be the responsibility of myspace to monitor ur kids. My cousin is 13 yrs. old and she had very provocative pics on there, when i saw and told my aunt, my uncle took away her computer privileges, and if she needs it for homework he puts the parental control stuff on the internet! he blocks myspace! but now a days it seems like u can sue anybody for anything, hopefully those parents don't win, it's not myspaces fault!
@prestocaro (1251)
• United States
6 Mar 07
I'm not a subscriber to the "blame the victim" mentality, but honestly... the website? why are your children on the internet unsupervised? did the parents even know that the kids had set up an account? probably not. Some people try to use electronic devices to baby sit their children and don't monitor them, and i feel that that is neglegent parenting. If your kid is going to play video games, monitor how long they are playing and what. Watching TV? use a parental blocking tool and restrict the times/lengths they can watch. on the pc? use a screening program and peruse the history to see exactly where they go. Infuriating! you wouldn't let your kid wander around the neighborhood all summer long if you knew there was a molester living down the street, but people let their kids tool around unsupervised all day long on the internet.
@abowen (37)
• United States
10 Mar 07
myspace has updated everything on their site now. you can make your site private ( no matter what the age) now so that only your friends can see them. and you have to accept these people as your friend. for the kids to have been a victim they had to of either not set there profile to private or accepted them as a friend. or talked to them in the messages. wither way it isn't myspaces faught that their child has been a victim. i was telling my husband about this. nobody ever wants to blame the children. my neice has a myspace and i told her to not accept anyone she doesn't know. her mother keeps taps on her and what she is doing on there. my brother ( her father) has one so he keeps tabs on her too. she has it to keep intouch with her family and friends she can't see. ( leave in another state). it is sad that today it is all about money and not about teaching your children right from wrong.
@southernpixie (741)
• United States
6 Mar 07
I think that it is entirely up to parents to monitor their child/ren internet usage. I have a 10 year old and I NEVER let him online unsupervised.
I think the parents suing myspace are just looking for someone else to blame so they don't have to feel so guilty. I also think they may be looking to make a quick buck.
The point is, parents watch your kids, don't let the internet be a babysitter..
@dfinster (3528)
• United States
6 Mar 07
This is all completely stupid. It shows how much money people waste on stupid senseless lawsuits. It really makes me mad. It seems to be just another case of lazy parents wanting to point the finger and place the blame for this stuff on everyone but themselves. Wake up parents and pay some attention to your kids instead of everybody else to do it!
@aretha (2538)
• United States
6 Mar 07
its the parents not anyone else. if you want your kids to have one then you need to keep track of it. with things the way they are today you have to. i can't believe people don't see it. i am not sure i would allow my kids to have one and if they do i will be checking they can count on it.
@green_lightning (130)
• United States
6 Mar 07
lol yeah what r these parents doing to keep there children safe? its their fault that they just let there kids out w/out knowing where.
@Charliefan101 (124)
• United States
6 Mar 07
If the children are under thirteen it will automaticly be disregarded. Myspace.com is not responsible for those. I know several of my friends have myspace accounts and they are 10, 11, and 14.
I think Tom will get off on this one.
@joanana (770)
• United States
6 Mar 07
In all honesty I believe that the burden of blame lies on the parents. In instances like this I feel that the parents have slacked on their job as parents, to watch over, monitor, and parent their own children and are instead looking to shift the blame onto someone else. News flash, if you don't want to take responsibility for rearing the life that you brought into this into a mature and grown adult then perhaps you should have forgoed reproduction.
I mean seriously, if I were in those children's shoes my mother would have been upset on my behalf but at the same time she would have pointed out my stupidity and questioned me as to whether or not I learned anything. And of course I would have probably been stripped of internet priviledges for a bit and been monitored when I was online for a period there after. I know she would have also put some blame on herself and asked where she was amiss in her responsibilities. That's how it should be.
@beckish (641)
• United States
6 Mar 07
Ultimately the parents are responsible for what their children are doing in my opinion, although I don't think suing anybody is the answer. I teach my children about internet safety, and I set up my own myspace account so I could monitor my child's activity. I find that open communication is the key; the more involved parents are, the safer the child will be. I don't think it is myspace.com's responsibility to monitor the child; that job belongs to the parent.
