More MySpace

I had an interesting discussion of the MySpace case with around 30 Massachusetts judges yesterday (I was teaching a refresher Torts course), so I thought one more post for the short term might be worth it.  So, here’s a story about additional efforts MySpace is doing, including a picture of Pete Solis, the not-actually-high-school-student who assaulted the 14-year-old plaintiff in the case discussed in the last couple of days.

“If you’re 14 or 15, for example, on our site you can no longer be contacted by anyone who’s over the age of 18 unless they know who you are. Knowing who you are means they know your first name and your last name or know your e-mail address,” said Hemanshu Nigam, Vice President of MySpace security.

Plus this interesting assertion from Solis:

Just this week MySpace got slammed with a $30 million lawsuit after a 14-year-old girl said she was assaulted by 19-year-old Pete Solis. They hooked up on MySpace and met in person a few weeks later. Solis says he’s just as much a victim because the girl allegedly lied about her age in her MySpace profile.

“It was just a complete shock,” Solis said. “I mean, I hadn’t seen … I mean I didn’t expect anything ’cause I didn’t hurt her in any way, and if I did I was sorry.”

The complaint acknowledges that the 14-year-old registered when underage (and thus presumably lied then):

…but also asserts that she told him she was 14: