MySpace.com gets legal relief in lawsuit filed by family of a 13-year-old girl

MySpace.com has received relief from a court which has now dismissed a lawsuit against them. This lawsuit was filed by family of a 13-year-old girl who claims that she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met online.

The lawsuit claimed that MySpace.com had no measures to protect children who use it. The accusing party was demanding reliefs of around 30 million dollars.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said in his ruling that the web service is protected under the Communications Decency Act. He further said that the service cannot be expected to verify the age of every user because that “would of course stop MySpace’s business in its tracks.”

The act in question grants immunity to online services from liability resulting from content posted by users.

The lawyer representing the family responded by saying that they would appeal this ruling. Jason Itkin added: “This is allowing sites like MySpace to avoid the responsibility to make the Internet safe for children. MySpace knows its Web site is a playground for sexual predators. Because of that, MySpace should be doing some very basic safety precautions.”

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