For the sake of discussion I tried to think about this from the girl's perspective.

MySpace provides a social network that is intended to introduce people with similar interests and facilitate that communication. The suit alleges that MySpace's security controls are ineffective.

Everyone seems to feel that the the realm of MySpace's responsibilities are virtual only and meeting in real-life is out of their control.

1. Is there a list of the security measures in place? Usually this is contained in a security & privacy policy statement, terms of use or end-user license agreement. Is it reasonable to expect a 14 yr old girl to read and understand these?

2. Does MySpace know or expect that other users may meet in person? It seems yes since they warn about it in a not so blatant area of the site... they may have some responsibility to better inform users of the associated risks (especially as they hear about incidents like this).

Although MySpace claims they take Internet safety very seriously it seems to not be very obvious on their website suggesting it still is the wild west. However, if it is obvious could it have set the wrong expectation?

This is just a thought... I think MySpace could consider partnering with groups or organizations that their young users are part of. Maybe even schools. This could help improve the integrity of data and trust by allowing teachers, principals or other authority figures that young users can request their information be verified by.

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/newsbriefs/232/1141#1141