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Title: MySpace sued over security negligence
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Blog Entry: Lawyers for the families of five American teenagers have filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against social networking website MySpace and its parent company News Corp after the girls were sexually abused by men that they allege they met through the website. The lawsuits claim negligence, recklessness, fraud and negligent misrepresentation The plaintiffs, whose identities are protected, comprise: a 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted - a man is awaiting trial on 12 charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor; a 15-year-old Texas girl who was lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted - a man later pled guilty to sexual assault after the girl was found by the FBI and is serving a 10-year sentence in a Texas penitentiary; a 14-year-old New York girl who was lured to a meeting severely force-fed with alcohol and illicit drugs forced and then sexually assaulted by two men - one awaits trial while the other pleaded guilty and has been imprisoned; and two South Carolina sisters, one 14 years old and the other 15, who were lured to a meeting, force-fed alcohol and illicit drugs, and sexually assaulted and raped by two men - both have been arrested and are awaiting criminal prosecution In April last year the site appointed a former prosecutor in the US Justice Department's internet child exploitation unit, Hemanshu Nigam, as its chief security officer and in December it said that it would soon be implementing new controls designed to identify and block convicted sex offenders. MySpace under legal fire over assault The mother of a 14-year-old Texas girl is suing MySpace for $30mn after the girl was assaulted by a man she met through the popular social networking website. The lawsuit claims that the site does not require users to verify their age and says that the security measures aimed at preventing strangers from contacting users younger than 16 are 'utterly ineffective' Just three months ago MySpace was forced to defend its security practices after two man were arrested in the US to face charges of sexually abusing children they contacted through the site.