BY BERNIE HORNICK
STOYSTOWN — A self-styled Internet guardian angel says MySpace ripped off her idea of a catch-all celebrity home page where the rich and famous have been prescreened as genuine.
Julie C. Riggs, 34, of the 1200 block of Bicycle Road, said the company shut down her site and set up MySpace Celebrity.
It all started in July 2006 when Riggs started her MySpace page and unknowingly befriended celebrity charlatans.
“Some of these imposter sites were so good, you wouldn’t be able to know the difference,” Riggs said in a telephone interview. “They were so professionally done.
“A fake Brad Pitt had fooled hundreds of people, who sent in money for his ‘charity,’ ’’ she said. Fraudulent postings also went up for Tyra Banks and Ellen DeGeneres.
Seeing fraud, and also fearing for the sexual safety of children at the hands of such posers, Riggs took action.
Within weeks, she’d established a new page – Celebrity Guardian Angel – on MySpace, a social networking site. Through faxed driver’s licenses, passports and Screen Actors Guild cards – numbers deleted – she said the identities of participating actors were verified.
Actors and actresses on her site included Heather Locklear, Samuel L. Jackson and Val Kilmer.
“I did it really to help out the public and, in particular, children,” she said.
And the site took off, she said, averaging 300 to 500 hits per day in the first few months – 27,000 total. She put in the hours as well, about four per day for several months.
Now that she’s been closed down, Riggs is suing Los Angeles-based MySpace in U.S. District Court in Johnstown, claiming breach of contract, negligence and fraud.
“The profile served as a public safety awareness site, as well as a gateway to allow fans to connect with their favorite celebrities,” the suit said.
MySpace attorney Gary L. Bostwick in Los Angeles did not return a phone call for comment.
The beginning of the end for Riggs’ Internet posting came when “Johnny Depp” complained to MySpace that she was harassing him.
Riggs said the company believed Depp was the real Hollywood actor and closed her site down. She said she determined later that his fan club, not Depp himself, was behind the complaint.
Riggs didn’t give up, though.
She created another, similar site and said that – through proposals sent via FedEx and by telephone – she tried to sell her celebrity venue to MySpace.
Because of the standard “terms of use’’ deal, Riggs couldn’t collect for her service to the public.
The company didn’t bite, but in January, debuted its own MySpace Celebrity. MySpace pinched most of her celebs and she was shut down again a month later, according to the lawsuit.
Riggs said the celebrity corner was stolen from her.
“Plaintiff’s idea was original and novel in its concept,” the suit said. “MySpace did not have an official celebrity site that contained solely verified celebrity profiles.”
The lawsuit said the Web site shutdown caused Riggs mental anguish and loss of reputation.
It said the public is subject to harm because MySpace isn’t properly verifying user identities.
“Plaintiff also lost irreplaceable items in the form of comments left by celebrities on the CGA site,” the suit said. “The comments were as equally valuable to the plaintiff as signed autographs.”
Then the lawsuit lowers the boom.
The Stoystown human relations manager wants MySpace to pay in excess of $75,000 in damages, $10,378 in special costs and unspecified punitive damages.
And it asks the court to delete celebrity imposter profiles.
