Girl accuses AOL chatroom monitor

[emad]

David Teather in New York
Monday April 18, 2005
The Guardian

He was hired to keep children in an AOL chat room safe from predators, but a lawsuit accuses him of grooming a Californian girl online and arranging to meet her for sex.

The man is accused of beginning an online relationship with the girl when she was 15. He was 23, married, and worked in a call centre in Oklahoma.

The young woman, now 19, claims to have confided in him about her parents' divorce and problems she had making friends. The conversations then became sexually explicit. The suit alleges they swapped explicit photographs and videos, and had phone sex. "The message and conversations became more and more flirtatious," the lawsuit says, "until they became downright inappropriate."


The two allegedly arranged to meet on her 17th birthday, but the encounter never happened. A colleague allegedly became suspicious and reported the man.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1462044,00.html

[joeybee12]

1. What's the law about phone sex? I mean, they never met, so it wasn't

rape or molestation, was it? Not sure what the law requires.

Could have happened, I'm sure. But part of this seems a little fishy to me. And why isn't this on AOL's home page? You know, the top news they greet you with when you log on? Can't understand why it isn't...

[Ian David]

3. AOL also suppressed their involvement in the "Slavemaster" deaths

Remember the serial killer who hid dead women inside barrels?

AOL had numerous complaints and warnings about his activities in their chat rooms that they ignored. He met some of his victims through AOL.

[SoCalDem]

2. 15 year old girls are not as naive as they used to be

I would expect that most of them "know" that the person they are online with, could actually be someone entirely different. If they carried on a "relationship" for that long, she had to know what it was leading up to.:eyes:

[Stinky The Clown]

4. This no attack on you, but isn't that sorta "blaming the victim"?

I have a step daughter who will be 18 in a few weeks. She used to go online to AOL when she was younger. Trust me, your notion that kids are savvy is very true. She was well aware of the dangers. That's not to say some glib talker couldn't convince even a smart, savvy kid to do something they shouldn't. But to imply that the kid is somehow at least partly to blame? I'm not sure.

Can you explain further what you meant?

[SoCalDem]

5. Not "blaming" anyone, but I wonder about the lawsuit thing

People are very ready to sue for what sometimes is a lack of THEIR judgement:)..that's all :)

[Stinky The Clown]

9. As concerns adults, I'm with ya 100%

As concerns kids ..... I dunno. But maybe the parents have some responsibility. I can buy that (in some (most?) cases).

[SoCalDem]

12. I always told my boys when they went online

"That cute 16 year old girl in the chat room is probably a 50 yr old bald guy, or a cop":)

[Generic Other]

13. AOL created the dangerous situation and they have deep pockets

The girl had every reason to believe her own internet company could be trusted not to hire untrustworthy employees. I think a jury would find AOL liable for the chatroom activities. Bet the company is drawing up the settlement papers even as we speak.

[libnnc]

6. where were her parents?

Why was she allowed to "chat" on the 'puter in the first place?

[walldude]

10. Exactly..

I have 3 young boys and they aren't allowed near any sites that have "chat rooms". Just like video games, movies, music and television, it's the parents responsibility to teach their children the "do's and dont's" of modern day media. While the guy may have been an asshole it doesn't excuse the parents from their responsibility...

[Geekscum]

7. The internet

Were men are men, a large number of the women are also men and the kids could very well be FBI agents.

[SoCalDem]

8. The Internet is a cyber highway..

Kids should not "play" on ANY highway..

I was lucky..my boys were pretty much grown by the time we had internet service..and when they were online, it was on MY computer in the family room, so if they went "bad places", It was there for all to see..and I had to log on for them, since they did not have my password:evilgrin:.. I think they tried to guess it, but it was my best friend's pin number for her bank account, so they would never have figured it out :)

[WLKjr]

11. Yesterday at work I told someone

what I thougth of AOL over the phone.

They called and said AOL wouldn't accept their network card. I proceeded to let them know that was their first mistake. They didn't sound too happy.....



FDLFAOL

(Friends don't let friends AOL)