Hi everyone,
I've just posted a few more thoughts on the House passage of DOPA on my
pbs blog:
http://www.pbs.org/learningnow
permalink:
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/learning.now/2006/07/dopa_passes_the_house.html
Here's a snippet from the blog:
I suppose I really shouldn’t have been surprised by the vote, given the
anti-MySpace mass hysteria that’s spread throughout the US like some
recursive virus. Bruce Schneier, in his book Beyond Fear, described five
different tendencies people exhibit while evaluating risk:
* People exaggerate spectacular but rare risks and downplay common
risks.
* People have trouble estimating risks for anything not exactly
like their normal situation.
* Personified risks are perceived to be greater than anonymous risks.
* People underestimate risks they willingly take and overestimate
risks in situations they can’t control.
* People overestimate risks that are being talked about and remain
an object of public scrutiny.
While Schneier was talking about terrorism, he might as well have been
talking about public fears of MySpace. These tendencies, particularly
the first and the last one named by Schneier, seem especially relevant
in the DOPA debate. In May I talked about an essay by Benjamin Radford,
who dissected national crime and online safety statistics to show how
exaggerated the threat of online predators was to the average child. But
the media exaggerates the threats until parents take them as the gospel
truth. Online safety expert Anne Collier has referred to this as
Predator Panic.
There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going through a state of predator
panic today. Almost every time you turn on Dateline NBC or pick up a
newspaper you’re bound to see a story about how threatened children are
on the Internet. No matter how rare these incidents are in real life,
the media hype has stirred up public sentiment to the point where
Congress has found an easy way to score points during an election year.
Less than three months after the DOPA legislation was proposed, it’s
already passed the House, with almost no public debate. How often do you
see legislation move through Congress that quickly? Not too often, so
they must be on to something, right? Unfortunately, if enacted, DOPA
could stifle all innovative uses of the Internet in the classroom. Maybe
I’m the one who’s a dope, but this strikes me as throwing out the baby
with the bath water.
--
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Andy Carvin
acarvin (at) edc . org
andycarvin (at) yahoo . com
http://www.andycarvin.com
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://www.pbs.org/learningnow
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