Families of assaulted girls suing MySpace

Families from different states go after the website in California

18 January 2007 17:34 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Parents from several US states whose daughters have been solicited and then sexually assaulted by adults on MySpace are suing MySpace and News Corp in California.

Separate suits have been filed by families living in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

It's not clear what damages they're asking for, but they're alleging negligence, recklessness, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation.

All the accused MySpace users have also been sued by the families, and some are now behind bars.

The two girls from the South Carolina family were reportedly plied with alcohol and drugged, and then sexually assaulted, while the MySpace users from Pennsylvania is going on trial for 12 charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

MySpace has recently introduced Zephyr, a piece of software that lets parents monitor their child's profile.

Parents will be able to use the software to find out what name, age and location their children use to represent themselves on MySpace.

It would not, however, allow parents to read their child's email or see their profile pages, and it would alert children that their information was being shared.

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Biz, Lawsuits, Online, Social networking, MySpace, News Corp, Wi-Fi, Car And GPS, Sky