MySpace Determined Not Liable in Rape Case

2009-07-02 21:22:04 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Law, News, Technology)

Wired PR News reports that MySpace has been determined not liable in a case.

A judge has ruled that the social networking site is protected from liability after the assault of four girls.

Wired PR News – An appeals court has ruled that MySpace is not liable in the case of four girls who were sexually assaulted by men they communicated with through the site. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles rendered the decision early this week citing the social networking site was protected under the Federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, which prohibits lawsuits brought against websites that post written messages by users.

As noted in the report, two of the men who assaulted the teenagers had received prison sentences and two were still awaiting trial at the time the suit was filed. The parents of the victims allege that MySpace should have taken further precautions to provide protections from predators.

David Singer an attorney for MySpace is quoted in the report as stating of the issue of free speech online, “If you have Web sites that are constantly screening and are afraid of the content they have on their Web sites, there would be no MySpace and no Facebook.”