Possibly, but I think there's a few significant differences. In the MySpace cases, a crime was committed by someone against a minor. We're not talking about "metal-inspired" teen suicide ... perhaps more analogous with the record company that sold music to the Columbine teenagers, but I don't recall that claim being made ... at least, not in court ... Also, it's not just about these court cases ... there are no numbers mentioned in that story, but let's assume the complainants are after another $30Mill each ... Does anyone know the payout figure from the first case? Has it settled? Murdoch only paid $580Mill for MySpace in the first place, so adding $150Mill to that looks bad for the bottom line ... maybe they can afford it, maybe not ... there's also the compliance cost, which they have already tried to meet (apparently). But it's also about the political pressure this will generate. Parents forming anti-MySpace lobby groups - getting the entire legislative framework arround the protections that a social netwok provider must comply with changed. The US government is traditionally loathe to interefere with big business and their practices, but they also traditionally very quickly and quite irrationally respond to any suggestion that children might be abused (see Dana Boyd on moral panics: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/01/10/a_few_more_thou.html) ... ignoring children in danger is a sure-fire vote loser and these examples give the campaigners a clear rallying point ... and they're in several states ... Didn't I read something the other day about crimes being committed in the Second Life environment?? Time will tell ... thoughts? predictions? Cheers, Hughie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marj Kibby" <Marj.Kibby@newcastle.edu.au> To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 11:01 AM Subject: Re: [Air-l] MySpace sued again ...
You don't think this smacks of " It's the record company's fault for selling my kid that heavy metal music"?
I'd think that these were very small thorns in news corp's side - they must regularly be sued by more powerful complainants.
Marj
Dr Marjorie Kibby, Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture Faculty of Education and Arts The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia Marj.Kibby@newcastle.edu.au +61 2 49216604
Hugemusic <hmusic@ozemail.com.au> 01/19/07 10:28 AM >>> http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/More-families-sue-News-Corps-MySpace/200...
Will they survive this time? How much more of this will News Ltd put up
with??
What more can they do?
How many other sites will have the same experience??
Stay tuned for more ...
Cheers, Hughie
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