Protect Your OwnSpace

A Texas judge tossed out the frivolous suit against MySpace, in which the parents of a slain teenager claimed that MySpace was directly responsible for her death. Judge Sparks' ruling centered around the Communications Decency Act:

"To ensure that Web site operators and other interactive computer services would not be crippled by lawsuits arising out of third party communications, the Act provides interactive computer services with immunity," Sparks' ruling said.

Sparks noted also that the girl lied about her age, posing as an 18-year-old when she was only 13, and registered for an account. MySpace's minimum age requirement is 14. The girl's name was not divulged because of her age.

In other words, a little parental responsibility goes a long way. While the incident was tragic (in the true literary sense of the word), it is not the job of the government to babysit for parents. You must take responsibility for your own offspring. From which it naturally follows that the parents, being clueless, protested the ruling:

"This is allowing sites like MySpace to avoid the responsibility to make the Internet safe for children," another attorney for the family, Jason Itkin, told the Associated Press. "MySpace knows its Web site is a playground for sexual predators. Because of that, MySpace should be doing some very basic safety precautions."

I think perhaps Mr. Itkin can't hear so well. Any time a politician or lawyer (is there a difference anymore?) starts making mouth noises about "protecting the children," you can make a safe assumption they're in it for the money.

Control your children... or somebody else will.