05.22.06
libraries may have to filter out MySpace
House Bill Would Force Libraries to Block Social Websites
– found at the American Library Association Web site
Legislation introduced May 9 by Reps. Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) seeks to prohibit minors from accessing chat rooms and such popular social-networking websites as MySpace and Facebook on school or library computers. The Deleting Online Predators Act, H.R. 5319, would require schools and libraries to block access to a broad selection of web content including commercial websites that “allow users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves” or offer “communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, e-mail, or instant messenger.”
“Sites like MySpace and Facebook have opened the door to a new online community of social networks between friends, students, and colleagues,” Fitzpatrick stated on his website. “However, this new technology has become a feeding ground for child predators that use these sites as just another way to do our children harm.”
[snip]
Are we going to stop phone calls and the ability to meet others and require fingerprinting on the way into the buildings too?
- Libraries Fight Limits On Networking Sites (reported by Tech Web)
- Congress targets social network sites (reported by CNET News.com)
- Headline: Congress Targets Social Network Sites (reported by Weblogg-ed)
- New Federal Legislation Would Ban Online Social Networks in Schools & Libraries (found on PBS Teacher Source)
