Families Suing MySpace After Their Daughters Are Sexually Abused

Lawyers representing four families from New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina filed separate lawsuits Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against New Corp. and its social-networking website MySpace. Lawyers from Barry & Loewy LLP of Austin, TX, and Arnold & Itkin LLP of Houston, TX, said that the lawsuits were filed after underage girls in the four families were sexually abused by adults they met on the MySpace site.

According to Jason Itkin, a lawyer with Arnold & Itkin, the families are asking for monetary damages "in the millions of dollars." The lawsuits claim negligence, recklessness, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation by News Corp. and MySpace.

"In our view, MySpace waited entirely too long to attempt to institute meaningful security measures that effectively increase the safety of their underage users," said Itkin. "Hopefully these lawsuits can spur MySpace into action and prevent this from happening to another child somewhere."

Parents, teachers, administrators, and law enforcement officials have long warned the public to be aware of online predators lurking on sites like MySpace. Such social networking websites encourage young people to use free messaging tools to widen their circles of online friends, and they allow members to create personal profile pages that give strangers access to information about them.

MySpace responded immediately when criticism began to be leveled at the site’s features. They have instituted education efforts to instruct the public about proper usage of the site, and they have partnered with law enforcement to increase security on the site. The company has enacted restrictions on the ways in which adults are allowed to contact younger members on MySpace. One of the newest technologies soon to be introduced on the site will give parents the ability to view some parts of their child’s online profile, including the stated age.

Hermanshu Nigam, MySpace’s chief security officer, issued a statement to reassure the public that the site’s owners are doing their best to meet the challenges head-on. "MySpace serves as an industry leader on Internet safety and we take proactive measures to protect our members," Nigam said. "We provide users with a range of tools to enable a safer online experience." But, he added, ensuring the safety of minors on the Internet is a shared responsibility. He said that users of the site should "apply common sense offline safety lessons in their online experiences and engage in open family dialogue."

Three of the lawsuits were filed for the families of a 15-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, a 14-year-old from upstate New York and two South Carolina sisters, ages 14 and 15. The fourth plaintiff is the family of a 15-year-old girl from Texas who was befriended by an adult MySpace user who then lured her to a meeting, drugged her, and assaulted her in 2006. After his arrest, the predator plead guilty to sexual assault, and is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Texas.

The lawsuits are not the first to be filed against MySpace. Last June, a Texas woman sued MySpace and News Corp. after her 14-year-old daughter said she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old user. The suit claims that the 19-year-old lied to the girl and told her he was a senior in high school in order to get her phone number. The lawsuit, which is currently pending in a Texas state court, is seeking $30 million in damages.