My suit: Cybersex crimes.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: Citings - Brief article

A 13-YEAR-OLD girl in Texas met a 19-year-old boy on MySpace, the wildly popular online community site. She claimed to be 15; he claimed to be a high school senior and a football star. They exchanged phone numbers, they met at a Whataburger, and he allegedly sexually assaulted her in his parked car.

Her parents are suing him. They're also suing MySpace and its parent company, Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp. Guess whom they hope to squeeze for at least $30 million?

The suit argues that MySpace "proximately caused" the assault by offering false assurances about its "protections" for the young on which the victim relied. But the issue of age is irrelevant to the question of who might assault you. At any rate, users know how easy it is to lie about age (and other things) on MySpace.

MySpace asks users to identify themselves and give ages, and it bars those who claim to be under 14...