Thanks, that was really helpful

I am taking a Business Law class through DVC right now, and it is all done online. The class is compressed, and therefore every two weeks I must read 4 chapters in the text, and answer a discussion question. The discussion questions come from the book, and our professor wants us to cite multiple sources in our answer, refer to ourselves in the third person, and basically give some convoluted answer. Here is my first post, which was answering the question "If providers of social networking sites are failing to protect their minor users, why should they be immune from negligence claims?"

Social networking sites should be immune from negligence claims because they do have measures in place to protect minors.

When signing up for an account on Facebook, for example, one commits to them to ‘not provide any false personal information on Facebook.’ (1) Also included in Facebook’s terms of service is a commitment to “not use Facebook if you are under 13 (Facebook).” MySpace also has a similar minimum age requirement for its users, and reserves the right to terminate a user account if it is discovered that the user is under 18 but representing that they are over 18, or vice versa (MySpace). In the case of Doe v. MySpace, the plantiff was 13, however, she chose to provide a false age to the social networking site, thus eliminating one layer of protection the site would have provided to a user under the age of 18. Defense counsel for the site can put forth an affirmative defense of Assumption of Risk (Miller & Jentz, 116); when the minor joined the
site, he or she agreed to the terms of service, and in the case of Doe v. MySpace, Julie was in clear violation of those terms, and would have had knowledge of the risk she was taking.

An additional consideration for exempting these sites from negligence claims pertains to the idea of contributory negligence3. Julie Doe was still under the care of her legal guardian, her mother, whom it appears
was unaware of Julie’s online activity until after the sexual assault occurred. Julie herself was negligent when she agreed to meet with a 19 year-old man alone. In this instance, the minor using the social site initiated face-to-face contact, which was not the responsibility of the creators of MySpace. Most social networking sites attempt to remove offensive or criminal images, language, or videos; these sites, however, cannot remove or prevent crimes that occur outside of the digital domain.

Section 230 of US Code 47 states that the U.S. government has to goal “to remove disincentives for the development and utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that empower parents to restrict their
children's access to objectionable or inappropriate online material. (47 U.S.C)” While it appears that the idea is to assist companies in developing so-called ‘child filters,’ this does not guarantee that minors will (1) circumvent the filters put in place by social networking sites; or (2) that the filter will be effective at blocking all
potentially dangerous images or interactions.

References
1. Facebook. (2011, 26 April). In Facebook Terms, section 4. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf
2. MySpace (2009, June 25). In MySpace.com Terms of Use Agreement. Retrieved from http://www.myspace.com/Help/Terms
3. Miller,R.L., & Jentz, G.A. Business Law Today (9th ed.). (2011). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.
4. 47 U.S.C. § 230


After this post (I got 17 out of 20), the professor advised all those of us who got 17 or less to reread the syllabus. Ok, I did that; it basically says, don't copy from the text or other students, write in the third person, and use a lot of references. I did that, but clearly it was not enough, so I emailed the professor to ask him about additional sources of precedent, and all I got back was that I should look at the students who did well, and if "that is too hard," I should refer back to the examples.

I love circular reasoning - especially when the students who got 18-20 points weren't really better than me, and had grammatical errors (which he claims to dock points for). Thanks for the help, Dr. Churchill - P.S. your syllabus is full of formatting errors.

*Yawn*

Today is a day of mixed emotions for me - it is the day my ex got married. Now, don't get me wrong, I definitely got the better end of the breakup, but I have OCD, so I sometimes ruminate about the how and why of our relationship, and why it is that he found someone to marry, but I have not. There are people who will tell me to 'let it go', or 'get over it,' but I prefer to think of it as learning how not to make the same mistake again. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, and quite frankly, I need to be smarter and not date anybody if it's at all reminiscent of my year with him.

I enjoy doing things as a single person - I don't have family responsibility and can spend money on shoes, but I have a righteous goal of getting married. There are many things I feel I need to work on (just in case the Lord decides to start implementing Old Testament punishments again); like many of us, I am a work-in-progress.

So, that was the reflective part of the day, and then there was the lazy part of the day with new roommate Lisa D, who is AMAZING! We went to the gluten-free bakery, got tons of food at Safeway, and then proceeded to watch a few episodes of Vampire Diaries. We keep having a debate about getting a 10'x8' poster of Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, but we really aren't sure where to find it. We also came up with a great plan to get Lisa on SYTYCD; her story involves a pet monkey and a footie pajama onesie. Stay tuned to Fox...

The last thing I did tonight was hit the corn maze with some of the LDS mid-singles. It was highly entertaining, especially when they decided to trust my map reading skill implicitly. I could have been leading these people to a chainsaw massacre, and they happily would have trotted along behind me. Actually, there was a guy in a full Gilly suit with a leaf blower wandering around, but he was more interested in screaming bands of teenagers than in our Mormon posse. The midsingles are a fun, nice group of people, and I hope to participate in more activities in the future.

Station 45

So, I am working out here at the Fire Station, which I always find fascinating. Because I am in the basement, I can hear all the radio calls going out. You would not believe how many calls they get for old people who have fallen down. No wonder LifeAlert does such a good business!

Two calls that stand out to me today are (1) a bike versus a car in Moraga, and (2) a 5 year-old with a bloody nose at school in San Pablo. I understand the need for an ambulance at the first, but for a bloody nose? Maybe a lifetime of chronic bloody noses has desensitized me, but I would just tell the kid to lean his head forward, plug it with a tissue, and maybe put some ice on it. It's not like it's a femoral artery or anything...

I haven't written in weeks! Things have been crazy busy, and I just haven't been inspired I guess. Life has a way of catching up to me sometimes, and yesterday was one of those days. My boss looked at me and said I looked like I was 'spinning out.' Between juggling 3-4 clients this week at work, reading 4 chapters (100 pages) in my textbook, and trying to have a social life, I think I am starting to spin out.

General conference was last weekend, and it was amazing, although I have to say that it's much harder to pay attention when you have 5-10 friends watching it with you. It still found it to be a much needed recharge, especially the overriding message of the Book of Mormon.

I also ventured into lasagna making - Paula Deen did not lead me astray with 2.5 lbs. of meat and a pound of cheese. That got gobbled up pretty quickly, as did the gluten-free beignets. YUM!

Ch-ch-ch-Chia!

I know I cannot be the only one who finds this disturbing. What exactly are they supposed to do for me? I guess my main concern here is that if you take these, you will start growing green sprouts instead of hair.

Shark Night!

Last night, Lisa and I went to see the super craptastic film, Shark Night. It truly lived up to our craptertainment expectations, and honestly, the post credit rap video was worth the price of admission. Here is a small tidbit of it...I shouldn't have been filming in the theater, and it's super crappy quality, but I really wanted to share this with all of you since it brought me so much joy. I hope this inspires you to at least rent the film.

Reflections

Ten years ago, I was on the mission when the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I still remember that afternoon quite vividly; my companion, Hermana Gallegos (now Noemi McKnight) and I went to teach a second discussion in Valencia. When we walked into the apartment around 4:00 (10am New York time), the investigator had the TV on, and I saw the twin towers going up in smoke and asked her, "Oh, what movie are you watching?" It was shocking to find out that this was no Hollywood idea, this was the work of evil men intent on destroying America.

People started running up to us on the street asking me where I was from and asking if I knew anybody in New York. Thankfully for me, I did not, but there were many who did. After that, our mission president told us to avoid any areas with high concentrations of Muslims, and for us sisters to be home an hour earlier every night. There was one day where Noemi and I happened to go into one of those neighborhoods, and even being largely unaware of what was happening in the U.S., I was terrified. "Don't say a word'" she told me.

I never experienced the unity that so many spoke of in the days following 9/11, and in many ways, I feel as though there is more discord in our country than ever. When I came home, all I saw was a nation of excess, taking things for granted, and a general sense of entitlement. But, I still believe in the greatness of America: we want people to succeed, and give them opportunities if they work hard enough.

On another note, it's been a year since the breakup, and things are great. Over the past year, I have traveled a ton, had so many fun adventures, and of course, made some fabulous new friends. Life doesn't always go the way I plan for it to go, but it never leaves me bored. Thanks to the following: Mom and Guy for showing me what a celestial marriage is supposed to be (and for being silly).

Jeff and Daniel for putting up with me every week; you are like my brothers.

Terri, Leesh, and Mich for sticking with me for so long it's ridiculous; you all have qualities I can learn from.

To my church friends (there are WAY too many to name) for being generally awesome and making me smile.

To my roomie for being kindhearted and generous in a way that I don't know I ever will be.

And finally, to Shaine, who will always be my sister, no matter what. Team D.I.L. forever - I'm rooting for you!