Myspace In Court...Again

A 14 year old girl in Austin Texas filed a 30 million dollar law
suite against myspace this morning. The girl was sexually
assaulted by a nineteen year old male she met via myspace.
This suite is one of a dozen to recently speak out against the site
in recent weeks. There are tons of copy cat networks like
myspace, but for some reason they haven't taken off to the
same degree. While I find myself often on the site, mostly to
check email and post a blog, I do go on it.

Personally, I find the novelty wearing off. I really don't think
I want to know THAT much about anyone! It also make the
dating world kind of tricky and unappealing, at least for me!
Getting back on track here, I agree that the site doesn't take
privacy and or security all that seriously. Actions speak louder
then words. I don't see people getting kicked off the site for lewd
or abusive behavior. The argument here always seems to boil
down to parents vs. internet security. They are both at fault!
Yes you should know what the hell your kids are up to.
However, now more then ever it's really easy to hide stuff
online. Parents have to be smarter then their children but
myspace is not off the hook. If you are going to say you take
aggressive measures, well then you should put your money
where your mouth is.

I've had a number of articles forwarded to me regarding various
effects of myspace. There have been a tremendous amount of
sexual assaults on minors. There have been a handful of murders.
There have been rumors of terrorists networks infiltrating the
site to gain information. There have been identity thieves.
One of the interesting lesser discussed side effects of myspace
and the internet in general has actually been sexual dysfunction.
A friend sent me an interesting article about the conditioning of
men (mostly) who use the internet. Is it really a shock that we
are keeping Perverted Justice so busy when we seem to be feeding
the flame? Myspace seems to have created a climate where it's
okay for 16 year old girls to get naked and speak to 30 year old guys.
Gee, I wonder why there seems to be a problem. All parties are at
fault. I still stick by my theory that for those who use the internet
wisely, enjoy the network while you can. It's on it's way out!