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I saw that as well on the Big Idea with Donny Duestch. There's 2 sides to every story here.
The boy she went out with was only 19 & portrayed himself as exactly that age, which is not too much out of her peer group. 19 year old guys dating girls in high school wasn't unheard in my day & still really isn't today. That being said, he shouldn't of forced himself upon her if that's what he did. The boy & his parents are the ones who should be sued. The most stupid thing about it is the 19 year old is sueing MYspace also.

I saw the Tyra Banks special about Myspace. In my opinion, the persons that she interviewed seemed like weirdos to me & made me not want to have anything to do with myspace.

If I was in a band, I would use Myspace to promote it. That seems to be the only sensible thing to use it for

I believe that parental guidance on teenagers is necessary on any forum.

I don't think it is all Myspace's fault for the things that happen[as in teenagers meeting up with someone from the website and getting raped]. I mean, those teenagers should know that since it is internet they can be lied to,etc.
I have a myspace account and so does most of my friends, and we don't add people unless we know them personally. which is what most people do unless they have a "whore" code. which means people will "whore" you and you will get tons of new friends. but i think it is wrong for the teenager and her parents to sue Myspace, because it isn't their fault for the girl getting raped.

Hello cdmohatta,

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined us.
I agree with your comment wholeheartedly.

I just seen the 16 year old, her father and the stepmother on Good Morning America, she uttered the same very thing (the stepmother).

The judge is sending the teenager to counseling and she must surrender her passport.

The father nor stepmother are blaming MySpace, they said MySpace aided in finding where she just might be.

They are not mad or upset with anyone including the youngman she ran off to marry. He was 20 years old and they believe their daughter loves him and they do not feel he is a predator or anything. They believe he loves her also.

Vicki L. Forte'
BellaOnline
Crime Editor

Hey Trisha,

I was thinking about you yesterday, I sent you up a prayer.
I hope you are enjoying your summer break.

Be safe and use your MySpace account wisely. Be careful with the pictures you post.

Everyone would call me paranoid when I would warn them about uploading certain pictures and places of them on the internet. They say, "You have been reading too much crime."

Okay, I'll quit cackling like a Big Sister and Mother Hen. <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />

Be Safe,

Vicki L. Forte'
BellaOnline
Crime Editor

WHat prevents a 16-year-old or even a 12-year-old (with decent writing skills...) from saying that he's over age 18 or 21? If a minor is determined to get on MYSPACE without restrictions, that's all he has to do -- lie about his age!

The parents must prevent that by constantly monitoring what their child is doing on the computer. The computer must never be allowed in the child's or teenager's room.
If the minor goes to the trouble of doing that, then obviously he or she lacks common sense & is asking for trouble. If something were to happen, it would initially be his/her fault & should be held just as accountable as the predator that approached him or her, regartdless of age.

I agree with you that parents should constantley moniter their childrens usage but I dont agree with what you say about if something were to happen that the child should be held just as accountable regardless of age.

Minors by nature do lack common sense and thatis why it is up to their parents to guide and protect them from scum on the net.

If the kid has enough gull to lie about his or her age & also to know how to fanagle & get around the system, I don't know if it's a question of common sense & should be held accountable to some extent.
If not than maybe the parents should be thrown in jail along with the predator.

Teens have always thought they are smarter and/or know better than their parents (come on be truthful, we did it too!) <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Sometimes we get lucky and have ones who are quite smart and can see the consequences that might occur, and so don't do the dumb things, and then other times we get the ones wth the "it can't happen to me" syndrome.

I started a thread over in the teens section about girls wearing inappropriate clothing to attract boys that they like; but they don't seem to get that it also attracts people that they don't want. The same thing happens on these web sites (Myspace isn't the only one out there, just the most well known!)

Kids put their info out trying to attract others and just assume that people that gross them out won't be drawn there as well. Kind of like a toddler playing "I can't see you, you can't see me."

We thought our 14 yr old was mature enough to handle a computer in his room; particularly since my husband does network security for a living, and our son knew we would be doing spotchecks on his activities. It started out innocently enough - he was looking at manga cartoons (Teen Titans) and got a pop-up ad. And he followed up on it. And it is very easy to lie on the web.

Luckily we caught him after only one day of activity on porn sites. We took his computer away for six months. We tried giving it back again, but he went back to it after about 3 or 4 months of using his computer for normal stuff. Now he can only use my computer- which is in the kitchen, while one of us is in there with him. He wasn't happy about it; but he couldn't argue too much considering he was caught twice, and we had proof.

Needless to say, we will be much more cautious with the next two coming along - and watching Michael more closely from here on out as well!