Hi everyone,
Many of you may have heard the news that the US Congress has just
introduced legislation that would require all schools and libraries
receiving federal Internet subsidies to filter out student access to
online social networks.
Here's the full text of the legislation:
http://tinyurl.com/z8vu3
According to the proposed legislation, the bill
"prohibits access by minors without parental authorization to a
commercial social networking website or chat room through which minors
may easily access or be presented with obscene or in- decent material;
may easily be subject to unlawful sexual advances, unlawful requests for
sexual favors, or repeated offensive comments of a sexual nature from
adults may easily access other material that is harmful to minors."
If you’re wondering what would qualify as an “online social network,”
the bill defines it as “a commercially operated Internet website that
allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information
about themselves and are available to other users and offers a mechanism
for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email,
or instant messenger.” That definition is rather broad, of course,
though apparently it would not apply to noncommercial websites. My guess
is that commercial blogging tools and email list services could be
subject to this legislation as well - though I do not know if it would
block access to these services writ large or on a
blog-by-blog/list-by-list basis.
More on my blog here:
http://www.pbs.org/learningnow
permalink:
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/learning.now/2006/05/new_federal_legislation_would_1.html
digg:
http://digg.com/technology/New_legislation_would_require_schools_to_block_access_to_online_communities
--
------------------------------
Andy Carvin
acarvin (at) edc . org
andycarvin (at) yahoo . com
http://www.andycarvin.com
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://www.pbs.org/learningnow
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE
in the body of the message.
