My article last week on the House of Representatives approving DOPA by a
lopsided 410-15 vote:
http://news.com.com/Chat+rooms+could+face+expulsion/2100-1028_3-6099414.html
As written, DOPA would cover more than chat rooms and MySpace.com; its
category of "social networking sites" includes ones that permit public
profiles. Some examples:
The list could include Slashdot, which permits public profiles; Amazon,
which allows author profiles and personal lists; and blogs like
RedState.com that show public profiles. In addition, many media
companies, such as News.com publisher CNET Networks, permit users to
create profiles of favorite games and music.
-Declan
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: For Politech: Thoughts on DOPA
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2006 11:53:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Burt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: declan@well.com
Hi Declan.
While I now work at Microsoft on areas unrelated to Internet access
and filtering, I thought I'd provde my thoughts on DOPA considering my
longtime involvement with CIPA, and filtering and public libraries
generally, and because Im a former librarian, filtering activist, and
filtering company spokesperson.
I) Legality
Recall that in the oral arguments on ALA v. U.S., the case that
decided CIPA, the American Library Associations attorney conceded that
it would likely be legal for a library to filter all chat rooms:
QUESTION: Why isn't that selective access? I -- we don't want chat
rooms. And it's not a total free-for-all, anybody wants to come in and
talk. No, we don't want chat rooms.
MR. SMITH: Maybe chat rooms are okay because the question is whether
that's a content-based exclusion.
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/02-361.pdf
II) Technical issues
Chat rooms are typically categorized by filtering companies
altogether in one Chat category. Social networking sites are not as
clearly categorized, often in categories like Personal Pages which
block Geocities.com, Xanga.com and other sites as well. The filtering
companies would need to fine tune Social Networking into a new
category to target this more accurately, and they may already be doing
this. (For example, Myspace.com is classified by SurfControl as
Personals and Dating http://mtas.surfcontrol.com/mtas/MTAS.asp and by
SmartFilter as Dating/Social http://www.smartfilterwhere.com
III) Policy issues
Blocking chat and social networking sites is probably already
consistent with most existing school policies. My recollection from
working with schools at N2H2 was that most schools were already blocking
this stuff before CIPA, so there is likely little impact here.
Libraries are different, since most libraries do allow users to
access social networking and chat sites, though there are certainly some
that exclude them. You have to have some concerns about the impact this
would have on some teens that are struggling with highly personal
problems, and using these sites as an outlet. Many teens dont feel
comfortable talking with peers, school counselors, etc. about a lot of
issues, such as sexuality, drug use, abuse, etc., and these websites are
likely the only outlet many of these kids have to discuss some of this
stuff.
David Burt
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