On the evening of July 27th, the Deleting Online Predators Act passed in the House with 410-15-7; otherwise known as a ridiculously gigantic margin. The bill, which is incredibly vague, threatens once again federal internet subsidies for schools and libraries unless they take measures to block social networking sites and chatrooms. The goal is to block children, specifically; adults should still be able to ask permission to access the sites.
How many times are we going to try and put walls around the internet? How long will it take us to realize that our kids are smarter than we are and that the only way to really protect them is to be there, paying attention to their lives, and getting involved.
Though advocates for the bill constantly mentioned MySpace, the bill is broad enough that any site that allows "communication among users" could be blocked. In the Web2.0 world, this could mean pretty much every site out there, before too long. Blogs, forums, chat, IM, Skype, Amazon, Ebay, Livejournal, and online games are all at risk. Why not just outlaw the internet for anyone under 18 years of age, or better yet, 21, and see how much we've shot ourselves in the foot when, in less than a generation, we don't have any web innovators anymore.
From Library Journal:
"This unnecessary and overly broad legislation will hinder students' ability to engage in distance learning and block library computer users from accessing a wide array of essential Internet applications including instant messaging, email, wikis and blogs," said ALA president Leslie Burger. "Under DOPA, people who use library and school computers as their primary conduits to the Internet will be unfairly blocked from accessing some of the web's most powerful emerging technologies and learning applications. As libraries are already required to block content that is "harmful to minors" under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), DOPA is redundant and unnecessary legislation."
DOPA is in the senate now, and it needs to be stopped. Please make your voice heard on this one, or else it's another Patriot Act in the making.
ZDNet has a great rundown on DOPA if you want the background skinny.
(via geekaresexy)
One reply on “DOPA is dopey”
So, if this is the way laws are going to be made, I have a better one. If you are not capable of being an ACTIVE PARENT you cannot have kids? How many people would go for that one? NONE! Right, no one wants to be told by the government whether or not they should procreate…the problem is that too many lazy SOBs are having kids. They think it is everyone else’s job to raise their kids. The school, the library, the day care provider, the doctor…instead of realizing it is their job and their job alone. If they are not up for the task then they shouldn’t have kids. There are plenty of willing active parents out there who are unable to be that integral part of a child’s life for some reason or another. It’s sad. I may just be the only parent who reads this blog, but I doubt it. So listen up parents. You have to educate YOURSELVES first and then your children. You have to give them facts. You have to be able to say, okay little Timmy, Lassie cannot save you from the well of internet predators, but you can save yourself and I can give you the tools and be there for you in order for you to do that. You can’t just say the “internet” is dangerous. You have to be specific! What is dangerous about it? How can you protect yourself? You also have to learn and teach that NOTHING on the internet is private. Not to a true internet predator at least. And one way to teach that is to say, look I can go to this site, type in your name and find out everything about you…maybe you shouldn’t be putting such personal information on such a public site. BUT, look, this site is still educational and worth while, you just have to be careful. Your children should NOT have privacy. They should not have computers in private rooms with passwords to email accounts that only they know. It is common sense. Show, them, look I can open a profile and say I am a fourteen year old girl from MA, when in fact I am a fifty year old man from just up the road. Show them. Teach them. Teach yourselves. Take a class. Be involved. Would you put your teen on a motorcylce or behind the wheel of a car without teaching them first? Would you send them out for their first drive on the freeway alone? Of course not. Why do you think you need to be less involved when it comes to the internet? We (meaning adults and children) have a fantastic resource in the internet. A world of information at our fingertips. Why do you think you can send your kids out into the world alone without the guidance and supervision of the people who should be watching out for them? Grr..Okay, I did it again, Wa, I babbled and wrote my own blog in yours. I am sorry. This subject just pisses me off. I would much rather sign a bill saying that lazy ass stupid people cannot have kids than one that says we should censor the information out there without a thought to the big picture. You think that your kids won’t go to a friend’s house or use their own personal computers to go to these “dangerous” sites? They certainly will, unless you are there watching out for their best interests and taking an active role in the information your kids absorb. Okay, done now. Have a nice day. 🙂