PorkSpace
Unchecked immigration, ongoing war, skyrocketing gas prices. So what does congress focus on? Banning social networking sites from schools and public libraries…
“When children leave the home and go to school or the public library and have access to social-networking sites, we have reason to be concerned,” Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, told CNET News.com in an interview.
Fitzpatrick and fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on Wednesday endorsed new legislation (click here for PDF) that would cordon off access to commercial Web sites that let users create public “Web pages or profiles” and also offer a discussion board, chat room, or e-mail service.
Fitzpatrick’s bill, called the Deleting Online Predators Act, or DOPA, is part of a new, poll-driven effort by Republicans to address topics that they view as important to suburban voters. Republican pollster John McLaughlin polled 22 suburban districts and presented his research at a retreat earlier this year. Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, is co-sponsoring the measure.
The group, which is calling itself the “Suburban Caucus,” convened a press conference on Wednesday to announce new legislation it hopes will rally conservative supporters–and prevent the Democrats from retaking the House of Representatives during the November mid-term election.
This is nothing more than “feel good” legislation designed to get the backers re-elected. This will do nothing to curb online predators. Its only achievement will be to limit the freedom of responsible internet users.
Pat has his own take on it here.
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POSTED IN: Law
4 opinions for PorkSpace
pat
May 11, 2006 at 10:06 am
Ha, we posted this at the same time.
I have a different take. Yes, this is easy, low-hanging fruit type of legislation. But I think that if facilities are taking federal money, the Feds should have the right to dictate acceptible usage for internet use for those organizations.
Those parents that work to block these networks at home do not need to be undermined by the local library.
http://www.belch.com/~blog/2006/05/11/congress-to-libraries-and-schools-block-myspace/
Trench
May 11, 2006 at 10:56 am
I agree with what you say about the federal funding however is legislation really necessary on this? Most schools already block MySpace so it wouldn’t be hard for libraries to do so too.
pat
May 11, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Again, what you are saying is true, its mostly a political stunt, and they are codifying best practices.
Its also part of the lobbying effort of “Help Delete Online Predators”, part of the missing and exploited children here:
http://www.missingkids.com/adcouncil/
Which does indeed have a handy-dandy button to push to report online predatory stuff.
miranda gutt
Oct 25, 2006 at 12:30 pm
is this the way to get on myspace wll omg im sooo happy…
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