The MySpace Series Part VII – In The News
MySpace has been in the news a lot lately.
Not all of the news is good.
– MySpace plans to expand to other countries including Britain where it launched in April . Next up Germany and France with China also being eyed. (Reuters)
– Yesterday MySpace was sued for $30 million by a Texas 14 year old and her mother after she was raped by a man she met on MySpace claiming that it fails to protect minors from sexual predators. The lawsuit claims that the site does not require users to verify their age and calls the security measures aimed at preventing strangers from contacting users younger than 16 "utterly ineffective." (The Statesman) There have been numerous similar accusations and incidents.
– ComScore Media Metrix says MySpace had more than 51.4 million unique visitors last month. (BusinessWeek)
– The National Security Agency is apparently checking the profiles of MySpace users looking for irregularities and illegal behavior. (LifeHacker)
It’s not easy being #1.
For Parts I – VI in Hypebot’s MySpace series click here.
I think all the negative publicity around child predators on myspace is complete media hype. It is no different in former yahoo chatrooms, internet messageboards, etc. But right now, with myspace being in the spotlight, they are a magnet for silly claims and suits. There is a habit of people not wanting to take responsibility for themselves or parenting sometimes.
Im teaching a workshop here in the fall regarding myspace and staying safe online. The first thing I will do – is kill this new “the internet – especially myspace – cant be safe” idea that has sprung up.