MySpace lawsuit sparks new safety rules for teens, but questions remain

To me i take responsibility to look after my own children because if there is no myspace there are other website that is coming out and the only way to stop them is better parenting.

This is ridiculous. I am the mother of three and I had my first child at 15 and at that moment i had to take responsibility for what I did. I did that and now she is a beautiful 9 year old that is playing with her little brother right now. When I got pregnant and had to tell my parents i did not blame anyone i made those choices and I took responsibility because that is how I was raised. I am raising my children the same way. My daughter knows when she does something wrong it is because of her choices and she is only 9. I cannot grasp the fact that there are 13, 14, and 15 year olds that don't understand that. I am so sick of these little girls that post "sexy" pics of themselves and then get mad when the adults call them a slut. I am equally sick of parents coming down on the internet for their kids being a slut. If you child is doing these things on myspace they will do them in the real world too. Myspace did not make your kid a slut and she would be one with out it. My husband has a profile and he is constantly deleting 15 and 16 yr old friend requests with pics where these girls are as naked as they can get. No one deserves to be raped or assaulted no matter how the act or what they wear but If you act like you are willing to give it up to anyone online and then meet people face to face you have to expect that some of them are not going to take no for an answer. So I think the smart thing would be to not put yourself into that position. And to the parents If you are letting your 14 yr old go places and be with people that you dont know then you have no one to blame but yourselves. At 14 you should know everyone your child talks to and sees outside of school and if you can't trust them then they have no right to be roaming the world alone. Freedom is a from your parents priviledge until you are 18. It is something that has to be earned and if your kids are the ones meeting random guys they talked to on myspace then they obviously haven't earned that.

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Unlike stumpet...I WILL say bad parenting. Good grief...since when did the internet become responsible for keeping "our kids" safe. If your child is spending countless hours on line it is your duty as a parent to know why and what they are doing....they try and keep it from you? Pull the plug. Too many parents are putting Tv's and computers in front of their kids to keep them out of their hair, stand up and be a parent. This lawsuit is BS!!!!!!!!!

Mom and myspace user!!!!

It's great that you tested Teen Second Life that way. I agree with you that parents have to be as involved as possible in educating their kids about the dos and don'ts of going online. Can the courts adjudicate that? I do recall the case of Jeffrey Lee Parson ( http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/1420.html ), the young man who created the MSBlaster Worm. You may recall that the 10-year prison sentence for which he was eligible was reduced because the judge said his parents had been negligent in allowing him to spend so much time on his computer.

I suspect that all of this will raise all kinds of new liability questions -- and parents may well find themselves being held responsible as well. What do you think?

Professor Kim ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com )
BlogHer Contributing Editor, Law and Journalism/Media ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/kim-pearson )

I recently interviewed the folks at Linden Labs about Teen Second Life for my book, and they gave me a special tour of the teen grid. Because of the advanced scripting knowledge needed to really play in Second Life, it's not a huge teen community -- at least not yet. Way smaller than MySpace. The teens who are there are mostly guys (even if they are representing themselves as different genders or creatures) and are pretty geeky (in the tech sense). I got the strong impression that the teens on the teen grid are very good about collaborative filtering and reporting creeps, potential adults and other trouble makers. I also got the impression that the moderators at Linden will not hesitate to jump in and take action against anyone who is caught posing or harrassing anyone on that grid. No online community is perfect, but I give Linden props for creating a separate, moderated teen space. Plus they do cool stuff like this. ( http://www.globalkids.org/AboutGK/PressCoverage/03... )

as a myspace user, who is the correct age to be using it... maybe 14 year old people (this is not exclusive to girls) should not say they are 18.

i thought most children were raised better than to lie about things. esp things that can hurt them.

NOW, i am not demeaning parenting. i am not saying that the kids this happens to have bad parents.

maybe the children are just stupid? naive? clueless?
they should watch the news more.

but that is just me

Thanks for shining a light on the challenges faced here by both the project and the users involved, Kim. For the record, I'm a huge fan of Mitch Kapor and Linden Labs. I saw this world demo'd at MIT in 2002 and was captivated. But I've never tried it before.

So tonight I tried to sign up as a teenager. Worked like a charm. Yes, I lied on the application and used a false email address. And then I cancelled the account.

Why'd I do it? To see how Linden Labs handles this as a business -- and how I handle it as a parent. Here's what I found.

As a producer, and I know, it's a really tough challenge to allow people younger than 18 to participate. You want to help the community thrive and not scare anyone off, youthful visitor or adult (even Adult) e-commerce. But you also don't want to emcee abuse -- or worse. And abuse is easy when you only require a verifiable email address. Obviously Second Life knows that -- their terms of service ( http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php ) walk that fine line. Here's an excerpt from their corporate site:

2.2 You must be 13 years of age or older to access Second Life; minors over the age of 13 are only permitted in a separate area, which adults are generally prohibited from using. Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether minors or adults gain unauthorized access to the Service.

You must be at least 13 years of age to participate in the Service. Users under the age of 18 are prohibited from accessing the Service other than in the area designated by Linden Lab for use by users from 13 through 17 years of age (the "Teen Area"). Users age 18 and older are prohibited from accessing the Teen Area. Any user age 18 and older who gains unauthorized access to the Teen Area is in breach of this Agreement and may face immediate termination of any or all Accounts held by such user for any area of the Service.

By accepting this agreement in connection with an Account outside the Teen Area, you represent that you are an adult 18 years of age or older. By accepting this agreement in connection with an Account for use in the Teen Area, you represent that (i) you are at least 13 years of age and less than 18 years of age; (ii) you have read and accept this Agreement; (iii) your parent or legal guardian has consented to you having an Account for use of the Teen Area and participating in the Service, and to providing your personal information for your Account; and (iv) your parent or legal guardian has read and accepted this Agreement.

Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether minors gain access to the Service other than the Teen Area, and makes no representation that users outside the Teen Area are not minors. Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether adults gain access to the Teen Area of the Service, and makes no representation that users inside the Teen Area are not adults. Adult employees, contractors and partners of Linden Lab regularly conduct their work in the Teen Area. Linden Lab cannot ensure that other users will not provide Content or access to Content that parents or guardians may find inappropriate or that any user may find objectionable.

After I read this, my inner producer thought: Yep, well-written. My inner parent thought: Oh hell. These terms of service mean that Linden is being honest and realistic with me that anything could happen on Teen Second Life. My son could be talking to another baseball fan, or a monster. It's a crapshoot. Which means that if my kids are going to go online (and they eventually are) and join a VR community like this one (which I think they eventually will), I have got to sit down and have a serious talk with them about the realities and the risks. And as for their request move their computer to the downstairs playroom, I think I'll weld it to the kitchen wall until they're older.

But what about other peoples' kids? Then I really started stewing, as a former teenage girl myself, about ugly experiences I've had online and in real life. I won't comment on the lawsuit you mention Kim, I don't know enough about it. But I started to wonder -- does Second Life have virtual abuse counselors, big sisters or other people to whom teens who get into trouble on Second Life can turn? A virtual Ellen Spertus ( http://people.mills.edu/spertus/ ) or another expert in online abuse or violence? Are these grown-ups allowed into Teen Second Life? Where can kids go for help, even as they have a safe, age-appropriate place to be what they are: Adult-like. Without the benefit of perverts two and three and four times their ages.

I had to be a 15-year-old to find out. After I asked myself this question, I continued impersonating a 15-year-old and began the process of downloading the Second Life interface to my computer.

Then I got some good news: Up into my face, (in a tres interruptive manner and in an edgy noir palette designed to suit any teenager as surly as I was when I was actually 15) popped Second Life's community guidelines for me to "sign".

The guidelines look pretty good, I must say. There are designated places for me to do everything from talk to dance to shoot a gun (frown). And there are people to which I can turn for help: If I get into trouble, I can contact anyone with the last name "Linden" for help and an employee will appear.

Of course, any damn fool can click the box at the bottom of the page without reading a word and go get into trouble. I do it myself all the time. Which leads me to the parenting lesson I got out of the experience: After reading these ( http://teen.secondlife.com/footer/cs ), I think my-sit down with our sons will include a careful review of some of the issues raised in these community guidelines together. Because if the kids could follow these guidelines to the letter and refuse the siren call of anyone they meet online, they might be okay.

Which means the responsibility for teaching the boys how to conduct themselves online does, in fact, involve me. And as early Alzheimer's sets in, I'm really going to have to work-it to stay up to speed with what the younger set's doing...

Now Kim, I don't suppose the courts can adjudicate parental involvement...:)

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://www.blogher.com/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )