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Space My My My
Jun. 20th, 2006 08:59 amI was expecting this
There is a lawsuit out of Texas again the 'My Space' website and its owners. The claim is that the website doesn't offer enough protection for its underage users. The owners have replied that they do and the also encourage all members to engage in ""smart Web practices." Which sounds to my ear as safe sex for the Internet which there is a lot of talk about but no real action other than talk. Personally I don't think this case has a leg to stand on at this point having read a little more about the information surrounding it. I think eventually unless things change at My Space, one of these lawsuits is going to stick and cost them a bunch of bucks.
I don't think "My Space" is evil. I think their business model is a little shaky in the long term. They claim that they are not responsible for false information that others post on their website and they state quite clearing in their user agreement that false information is grounds for the account to be terminated even if you paid money for the account and no refunds. They cater to the younger set and say that everyone is over 14 or claims to be over 14 so if someone under 14 has an account then it is not their fault but the user's fault.
Another interesting thing is that anything you post on My Space is property of My Space and according to the user agreement
By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, profiles, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") on or through the Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com, a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services. This license will terminate at the time you remove such Content from the Services. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through the Services or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this section, and (ii) the posting of your Content on or through the Services does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of any Content posted by you to or through the Services.
Which covers their behinds for copyright violations but is pretty scary from an intellectual property point of view. So you can sue the user but not the company. Like AOL and Match.com the wording is very carefully worded to cover them legally. The scary thing is that this is a worldwide license to reproduce whatever you post on My Space.
We heard a lot about pedophiles trolling My Space for victims. We have heard about teens trashing other teens to the point that they commit suicide because of what people wrote on My Space. The users will tell you that it is just a fun place to hang out and be with their friends in cyberspace and the pictures and trash talking are just part of the fun. It's just a bunch of teens being teenagers and don't hit my buzz man. The web masters say that parents should be more aware of what their under-aged kids are doing on the computer. And that they try to educate their users so that they are "web savvy." I do agree that parents are responsible for what their under-age kids are doing out on the web and they should be aware of what is going on. But there are enough courts and juries out there that eventually My Space and other sites of the same ilk are going to have answer questions about how they run their sites and oversee the content within.
I am grateful that we do look at what the kids are doing on the computer.
There is a lawsuit out of Texas again the 'My Space' website and its owners. The claim is that the website doesn't offer enough protection for its underage users. The owners have replied that they do and the also encourage all members to engage in ""smart Web practices." Which sounds to my ear as safe sex for the Internet which there is a lot of talk about but no real action other than talk. Personally I don't think this case has a leg to stand on at this point having read a little more about the information surrounding it. I think eventually unless things change at My Space, one of these lawsuits is going to stick and cost them a bunch of bucks.
I don't think "My Space" is evil. I think their business model is a little shaky in the long term. They claim that they are not responsible for false information that others post on their website and they state quite clearing in their user agreement that false information is grounds for the account to be terminated even if you paid money for the account and no refunds. They cater to the younger set and say that everyone is over 14 or claims to be over 14 so if someone under 14 has an account then it is not their fault but the user's fault.
Another interesting thing is that anything you post on My Space is property of My Space and according to the user agreement
By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, profiles, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") on or through the Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com, a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services. This license will terminate at the time you remove such Content from the Services. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through the Services or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this section, and (ii) the posting of your Content on or through the Services does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of any Content posted by you to or through the Services.
Which covers their behinds for copyright violations but is pretty scary from an intellectual property point of view. So you can sue the user but not the company. Like AOL and Match.com the wording is very carefully worded to cover them legally. The scary thing is that this is a worldwide license to reproduce whatever you post on My Space.
We heard a lot about pedophiles trolling My Space for victims. We have heard about teens trashing other teens to the point that they commit suicide because of what people wrote on My Space. The users will tell you that it is just a fun place to hang out and be with their friends in cyberspace and the pictures and trash talking are just part of the fun. It's just a bunch of teens being teenagers and don't hit my buzz man. The web masters say that parents should be more aware of what their under-aged kids are doing on the computer. And that they try to educate their users so that they are "web savvy." I do agree that parents are responsible for what their under-age kids are doing out on the web and they should be aware of what is going on. But there are enough courts and juries out there that eventually My Space and other sites of the same ilk are going to have answer questions about how they run their sites and oversee the content within.
I am grateful that we do look at what the kids are doing on the computer.
