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Bill Would Ban Minors' Access to Social Networks at Schools, Libraries

Authored by dmw on May 11, 2006 - 12:54pm.
San Francisco - House Republicans have introduced a bill that would prohibit minors' access to social networking sites at schools and libraries, CNET News.com reported. The Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), authored by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) and backed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, would ban students' access to sites that let them create personal profiles and that feature chat rooms and other forms of online communication that can subject them to sexual advances. "We've all heard stories of children on some of these social Web sites meeting up with dangerous predators," said Rep. Hastert. "This legislation adds another layer of protection." The director of the American Library Association's office of government relations, Lynne Bradley, told CNET News.com that librarians are "as protective of kids as any other protection in this whole field, but we do know there are legitimate uses (of social-networking sites)." Some schools already block access to sites like MySpace, Facebook and Friendster, prompting enterprising students to take elaborate steps like setting up online proxies to their home computers, which allow them to bypass filters and access the social networks from school computers.
http://tinyurl.com/pauts (CNET)
tags: Internet | Law | Social Networking | Youth | Censorship | Bills | DOPA | Schools | Libraries |



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