Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Hard to meet playmates??

LOL. It's not a belief; it's a fact. Anything that creates a danger of injury creates a risk of liability. For both freecycle & craigslist, the risk to users would be much smaller because people do not share details about their children or their family lives on those websites. In fact, the risk of using those websites is equivalent to the risk of having a pizza delivered. It's clearly different to disclose the intimate details both of one's family life and of one's residence.

My source? Personal experience. I'm a lawyer. I can tell you that the area of website liability is still largely untested. The extent that websites will be liable when their users suffer an injury has yet to be decided (and will depend on the jurisdiction, the judge, etc.).

I didn't exactly advocate revealing intimate details of one's family life or residence, but merely a geographic area and perhaps what age range of kids one was interest in finding for play dates. I guess perhaps a DYS scholar would be able to take that information and figure out someone's exact identity, but it would likely be beyond the skills of 99.9% of the populace.


What a coincidence! So am I. If by "largely untested" you mean that your position has no actual legal support, it would be more honest to just come out and say that next time. Just calling a forward-looking opinion a fact doesn't actually make it a fact. I remain open to an actual fact if you come up with one; I'm generally happy to find out I'm wrong on an issue.

Children's things are regularly freecycled, BTW. That's a little different from getting a pizza delivered.

EDIT: I guess some people here do post first names of their children, etc., so such details might make it more possible to identify someone. But obviously no one would be forced to take part in a play-date feature, just like they're not forced to reveal other identifying profile information if they don't want to. But yes, theoretically, someone could post the names of their entire family, complete with SSNs and birth dates.

Let's say that were to happen-- do you think that that would weaken or strengthen your potential case for liability? And do you have any support for your opinion, aside from a statement that it's a fact?

Until you do, I would say that we have a difference of opinion. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it's an honest one, and not just that you don't like the cut of my jib.

Most of us post fairly intimate details on this website, and most of us refrain from posting information that would identify our names and addresses. Perhaps I've misunderstood what you picture this new feature achieving, but if it involves actually meeting with strangers, it will reveal the identities and addresses of the users.


On the contrary. I mean that if you are asking whether I can show you caselaw proving that websites that facilitate the sharing of information about children's interests, problems, test scores, family lives, and addresses have been held liable when that information is used to the injury of the child or the child's family, then, of course I can't. That case doesn't exist, to my knowledge. But I would be very surprised if you graduated from law school without learning that unsafe products are liability issues. New products, which have never before been the basis for a lawsuit, are not exceptions simply because they are new.

I would also note that the Davidson Institute is really about providing services to PG kids. To that end, my understanding is that DYS families are provided the contact information of other DYS families in their regions. I could be wrong. But it makes sense to me that it be a closed system to protect the families and children involved.

Can you provide case law applying products liability law to a website in a similar context? That might be one way to start a legal debate on this, but I guess we should take it offline if we wish to continue. I haven't seen anything along those lines, but would be quite interested to learn of it.

Do people here give out their addresses? If so, I was unaware of that. That alone could make someone a target for a stalker. But if so, all that would be required is a search function based on the already available address information. I was thinking of something based on the town at the most specific. In addition, in order for an exchange of user IDs in preparation for a first meetup, one wouldn't have to know any part of the other user's hidden information. But these are design/implementation details for an idea with which I know you just won't agree.

I think it's a side issue what the Davidson Institute does for its DYS families. There are users of this website not in the DYS program, and I still think it would be a useful feature for any parent-oriented website with a user base. We have a difference of opinion, but I think it won't be resolved here.

No. And I'm really not interested in debating (or researching) the likelihood that a lawsuit might be successful (in product liability or otherwise). Tort law is not my favorite. Suffice it to say that I believe that it is something DI should research thoroughly to determine the risk before adding on the service (which really is what I mean when I say that there is a liability issue).


Well, no, I haven't seen people give out addresses (schools, though, which is almost as scary). But once you arrange to meet a stranger, even if it's just at the park, they can often use that meeting to find out where you live and what you look like.


I think this bulletin board is probably the tiniest little bit of what DI does. It seems pretty insignificant compared to the rest of DI's services.

We certainly do disagree a lot, don't we.

LOL Speechie - I didn't mean to frighten you. If you are a wimp than so am I - I just wasn't sure exactly how desperate you were! We did get a dog in hopes of taking some of the burden off of me - but there weren't a match. Keep your eyes open for some sib substitutes you can borrow. Meanwhile the grandmothers sound wonderful.

Smiles,
Grinity

K'sMom --

Very cool about the advanced immersion class. I am always jealous of people who live in places with school choices that work for them. My dh is Air Force, so our luck may change... for better or for worse...

Thanks Clay. We really did luck into it. I was looking for summer camps for language and found this program. Then when we went to see it I was overjoyed by the academics, plus it was when I got a full reality dose on my kiddo. Up until that point I had no true understanding of how far advanced she was in comparison to public school programs. I was in complete shock when I realized that my child, at the time 2, could easily do everything the 4 yr old class did and about half of the kindergarten curriculum. (All in English, however.) Which meant she was capable of 1st and 2nd grade in the public schools. But we still hesitated to enroll her there since A. we already enrolled her in the preschool and would lose the registration and B. knew that if we did go that route it would be hard to pull her out and put her in the public school which was 2 years behind this program. But we learned the hard way and made the switch. We have been very happy with the school. And trust me ... I know the struggles people on this board go through so I definitely thank my lucky stars for finding this place. I just hope DD stays challenged.

Thanks for all of the replies!
a quick update.
We've found a kid locally who is a good match for outdoors/playground time. It's not a perfect match, but I took your advice and found a 4 yo for Nick to play with. The library trip wasn't so good as Nick's skills are more advanced and he became frustrated with his friend, BUT the outdoors playtimes are going well, and though Nick is still physically more agile/advanced they play really well together!
Good luck to all who have kids starting preschool in the fall. I need more vibes that perhaps we'll find a real peer in the classroom! (A girl's gotta dream, you know?)