If you use a friendbot for myspace advertising, be careful ..

Ahahaha. Press charges for what exactly?

I'm intrigued.

 

Tell him you should be a teen to use any social networking site and myspace require you to be at least 14years old!

 

I'm not an attorney, but I've seen stranger things in US courts. If people send mass bulletins without checking those ages, you can be promoting adult services to minors. I don't think it will be nice...

 

Sure adult is a different issue.

 

if you're doing something dumb like spamming adult sites via myspace and you happen to hit kids, obviously there could be huge legal implications.

even without them it's not like it's without risks.

different countries and states have their own laws. some "spam" laws cover far more than just email.

not to mention the US federal legal definition of spam is just "electronic email" which is not given a strict definition. some court could decide that "electronic mail" may apply to more than just email. I vaguely remember hearing some case that used the same logic for IM spam on AIM, etc.

 

When I used the friendbot, I didn't specify any parameters. I just made the message and clicked "go." Besides, can you really trust that the ages that people use are accurate and correct?

I used the bot to advertise my site similar to how unknown bands advertise their new music. There really was no mal-intent, but I can only control what happens on this side of the computer screen.

 

You're right, you're right, and you're right.

Thank you for the wonderful post. I know that some people can pull off a myspace marketing campaign, but I couldn't. I suppose I was emotionally involved with the situation because of the "stalker" "molester" undertones to the reponses I got. Like I said elsewhere on another forum, I of all people, should know the difference between thoughts, feelings, and the situation.

I agree with you regarding the research planning.. however, there's no way to determine the accurace of anyone's age that uses myspace. I could say that I'm 16 when I'm really 70 -- who's to know?

 

yes, you can only control what you do.

what you're doing, in this case, comes with risks. risks you should be aware of before you start using these kind of tools.

agree with you completely there. I think the hysteria surrounding pedophilia / child molestors / etc is absolutely absurd. there's something tremendously wrong with our society if an adult simply conversing with a child is seen as wrong and potentially dangerous.

 

This is where I was coming from.. it was a shopping site, nothing more, nothing less. I was attempting to do what everyone here is doing.. build awareness through marketing, albeit shady marketing. But lesson learned over here.

 

No kidding.

To amplify your point: Do some volunteer work for child protective services, and you'll see what some parents are capable of.. and these are the same parents who will press charges against you. The human race knows no ends of contradiction, it seems.

 

Why not? I don't know what friendbot is but can't you just specify age parameters? Then if it gets into a minor's hands it is because they lied, not because you didn't give a flip if you were marketing to minors or not...

 

If you targeted adult people, even if they lied, well, at least you tried to avoid minors.
I didn't said that people would WIN if they sue some bulletin promoters. But they can sue anyway, and it's better to avoid those problems...
Be careful... do you know what a scared parent can do?

 

Indeed. And this is the reason why I'm sharing my experience with the world.. to help other people out before they encounter something like this.

 

In my opinion a shopping service could only be seen as bad by that parent, because they might think that you were trying to convince a minor to spend their parents money. They don't know that you didn't chose him specifically... they think you did...

Listen, we know that you weren't trying to do anything evil, but you can be dealing with less internet savvy people, used to hear all things of credit card frauds.

 

True. But then, there's no way to prove whether I did or did not give a flip. When I say one thing, I'll be accused of being a lair. The fact of the matter is that I was irresponsible for not setting the age parameter, but another fact of the matter was that I didn't "mean" for this to get out of hand. How am I going to prove that I didn't intend malice? I can't.. and I if I try, I'll be called a liar -- possibly.

 

legal issues aside, using shady marketing techniques can seriously hurt your image if you're not safe or careful about it.

take therichjerk for example. he purposely hid his name and didn't want to be associated with the marketing tactics he used. it slipped.

do you want people to be able to google your name and find out you're using shady tactics online? what about if one of the parents set up a site that revealed your name with the above innuendo (suggesting you "like kids)? wouldn't be fun.

 

That's false - the majority of people on myspace are over 18...

 

Proximally and for the most part, sites like myspace cater to those who are not internet savvy in the first place. And hence, there are those who are savvy. Those who are savvy design pre-made graphical packages and pre-made myspace layouts for those who are not savvy, or at least for those who are lazy; in this regard, people have made a lot of money by catering to those who aren't familiar with the internet and internet culture in general, and with myspace in particular.

I know where you're going. It's always best to run "worst case scenerios" before marketing a site; this is where I failed -- I assumed that everyone else would interpret my email as a marketing event, not as a invitation for something more sinister.

 

Could be interpreted as slander. Then it's a legal issue.

 

you're assuming everyone tells the truth about their age. apart from people there to market (either via spam or promoting bands), the vast majority are in high school, and some even younger.

ask a group of high school kids about myspace and ask a group of random adults-- guarantee you the high school kids will be more likely to have an account.

depends on how it's worded. it's completely possible to tarnish people's names without commiting slander or libel, depending on how it's phrased. what he said in his message to you-- "it makes it seem like you like kids" isn't slander at all.