Interestingly, I used the same coffee shop reference here<http://digitalconversations.blogspot.com/2007/01/myspace-parental-responsibility.html>. Thank you for taking it a step further. There was a recent-ish Law & Order episode that dealt with similar issues surrounding social networking sites (the fictional "B-friendz site). With such a large viewing audience, I am always nervous when such a big production handles such potentially controversial issues - but I was quite pleased with how the show discussed responsibility not only on the web site's part, but also on the parents. Episode Information can be found here<http://www.tv.com/law-and-order/avatar/episode/870987/summary.html> . Kelly Boudreau Concordia University, Montreal Canada www.gamecode.ca On 1/19/07, Alexis Turner <subbies@redheadedstepchild.org> wrote:
If a coffee shop/bookstore/library/etc allows both adults and teenagers to use its premises, and pedophiles happen to like it because it is near a Catholic girl's school (and thus uniformed students happen to frequent it), would the coffee shop be responsible if a pedophile struck up a conversation with a student in the shop and this later led to an assault? In other words, is the coffee shop somehow *facilitating*, aiding, or abetting the aspects of this event, including the illegal ones? If so, does this mean the business model of the coffee shop (allowing people to meet and talk) inherently assists illegal activity? What steps would the coffee shop legally, or morally, be required to take to prevent this from happening? If it is not *required* to take any steps, should it anyway? -Alexis