US House: Schools must block MySpace, many other sites
by Marshall Kirkpatrick on July 27, 2006

Image from Flickr user Hey PaulUS House Resolution 5319, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), was passed by a 410 to 15 vote tonight. If the Resolution becomes law social networking sites and chat rooms must be blocked by schools and libraries or those institutions will lose their federal internet subsidies. According to the resolution’s top line summary it will “amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms.”

Adults will be able to ask for the library’s permission to use such sites. The Resolution will now go to the US Senate for a vote before being offered to the President for signature into law.

The rhetoric from advocates was all about MySpace. For example, Texas Republican Ted Poe says, “social networking sites such as MySpace and chat rooms have allowed sexual predators to sneak into homes and solicit kids.”

An incredibly vague law, DOPA will require schools and libraries to block access to a potentially huge range of sites on the internet. The goal is to protect children from adult predators. Sites that must be blocked include those that allow people to post profiles, include personal information and allow “communication among users.”

410-15 was a shocking vote. I write about it here because it has the potential to impact a huge portion of our readership and the companies we profile on this site. Though the viability of enforcing such a law is open to question, web services offering collaboration in education are looking seriously endangered. Secondary collaborative consequences of commercial web sites used in schools aren’t looking good either. Or perhaps it’s just symbolic of the divide in the US between on one hand those of us who are excited about the incredible potential of web services to enable personal creativity and on-demand global communication and on the other hand those who believe that the internet is just a series of tubes.

I’m not the best person to analyze this though. Here’s who I recommend:

  • Declan McCullagh at ZDNet has posted a very thorough background article on DOPA.
  • Andy Carvin writes Learning Now, a blog about education and technology for PBS, and has set up a page called DOPAWatch to aggregate blog posts on the topic.
  • danah boyd is probably the web’s leading expert in analyzing the politics of MySpace and youth social networking.
  • Will Richardson’s Weblogg-Ed is a great source for all things Learning 2.0
  • Vicki A. Davis is a Christian school teacher in Georgia who uses blogs, wikis, podcasting and more in her classrooms. Vicki has written a number of powerful posts on DOPA and I would expect she’ll have something to say in the morning.

If youth are the most likely adopters of new social software then I think it would be in the interests of all who are interested in social software to watch the US government’s attempts to keep children from it.

Trackback URL

Comments

Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] 5 » Show All

Check out BBscience.org for a proxy to access myspace and some free games…

 

Ok i can get where people are comming from with that whole preditor thing and me being 17 i aslo get why kids my age are mad because they can’t get to these sites at school……. but this is what i have to say……….. this is the new day and age and people use these sites for many reasons…… to stay connected to there friends and to meet new people are the most commen…… but there are those that know how to use these sights safely, and then there are the people that are just don’t……..most older kids know that personal info over the net is just not something that you do…………but with profiles you have the option to put a location, an age, and just about any thing privit on there……………… I think that we should just let the kids have chance………. even if you do a little bit of restricting that would be a lot better that what we have going on.

 

this not the only site but urbanchat and many other but if we wanna ruin olur lives let us and i say anyway fuck the government u are ruin my life and i have the freedom of speech, and other things so….. fuck blocking web sites

 

I think that kids in high school need to be able to grow socialy and not have all this damn info shoved down their throats at once. I believe if you finish the work and have free time kids should be able to access myspace or even if they can’t do that at least play games. I go to a computer based school all of our work is done on the computers which we are allowed to take home. Which is really good for the kids who don’t have internet but have friends or go to places that have wifi or wireless connections. We can’t even get on those type of sites out of school. I understand people might abuse this but let them be the ones to show for their grades and deal with the concencuinces…sorry if any of these words are miss spelled.

 

myspace should not be blocked its a perfectly normal thing to talk to friends hey go to kproxy it works really good

 

Prompt there are programs of the help poor in the field of health protection? WBR LeoP

 

wow how fucking gay,im sure some guy well rape mature male 17 year olds

 

okay ive been looking litterly for an hour and a half no proxy cites work,the smart filter bess eddition is gay as shit and now blocks all websites listed as Anonymizers,id try to hack into the school and bypass the filtering myself and reroute everything if i wasnt so sure id get caught,ive tried everything and nothing works so im beat,this sux so much ass for kids who DONT have computers at home,evan though i still now a shitload about em

 

myspace was the my only communication to a shit load a freinds,and now thats gone this sux balls for poor people

 

I really dont see a point in this. Sex Offenders are always going to find away around filters or anything online to be able to get to kids. But I do thing they these filters should be enforced in school, and no where else, because we are at school to do work and learn, not to push our work a side and go MYSPACING, to chat with our friends.

 

fuck school,i havnt dont n e thing n my computer class,evan if myspace is blocked or not,so im not seeing a point

 

Try http://www.bypassfilter.net to access this and other blocked sites from school and work.

 

The rhetoric from advocates was all about MySpace. For example, Texas Republican Ted Poe says, “social networking sites such as MySpace and chat rooms have allowed sexual predators to sneak into homes and solicit kids.”

An incredibly vague law, DOPA will require schools and libraries to block access to a potentially huge range of sites on the internet. The goal is to protect children from adult predators. Sites that must be blocked include those that allow people to post profiles, include personal information and allow “communication among users.”

These statements say that the schools and libraries are trying to keep you off myspace while you are in there facility and so if something happens to a kid because of them being on myspace while there on one of their computers then they get blamed. But as long as you are some where else and they don’t get the blame then they wouldn’t care as long as they didn’t get blamed responsible

 

Its so annoying having myspace blocked. I go to a boarding school, the only way of keeping in contact with people from home the quick way is internet, sure phone is fine but we (kids), dont have money all the time and phone cards are getting expensive.

 

hey this class is like soo totally gay my myspace page is blocked

 

ello ppl dis is ashlrigh n hannah. were in music tryin 2 get on surferduderanch lol!!!1 our skool iz shit dey hav blocked everythin! xx

 

Some schools are blocking youtube, hi5 and wikipedia, also! While adminstrators are blocking sites kids fight back using online proxy servers to access banned or filtered sites. Eg. http://www.vipsurfer.com and http://www.msproxy.net are just 2 such sites for bypassing firewalls while staying secure and protected.

 

Also you can use PROXY MYSPACE to access any blocked sites from school or work to fight boredom: http://www.surfinter.net or NEW*** http://www.hidemyway.com !

 
 
 

FUCk the law!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hi. I am a high school student. My school district has had sites like myspace blocked for quite some time. I personally don’t think there is much of a reason. I understand what they mean about how people meet people online, but if you look at statistics, not many people ever meet people online, and if they do, it’s there own damn fault for being so immature and stupid. The majority of us don’t meet people on myspace though, we meet them on other sites that we can still access on school computers. It is my personal opinion that myspace should not be blocked on school computers. If students have extra time during school, they should be able to do as they please as long as it isn’t corrupting their minds, or distracting working students around them. This law is pretty dumb, and shows us why we all really could live with a different president, but you know what. No adults have the right to complain about our president, they are the ones who elected him, and just because they aren’t happy with what he is doing now, oh well, they are the ones who voted and elected this guy, deal with it. Also, maybe next time you should all make smarter choices about something important like this, or impeach him already!

 

This does suck…. How do the school filters know to block proxies?

 

K, i am a concerned parent, i know your kids may be subjected to non sense and obseen picture on myspace, but i met my wife on myspace and there are many good things coming from myspace, so if all of you other parents would pull your head out your ass and stop being such faggots then maybe our kids would live a little bit happier, thank you for your time douche bags, thank you ever so much

 

I just use a proxy site like ipod.us.to to get around this! “Stalkers/preditors use cellphones to contact their victims so why not ban them?” I mean come on!

 
 

http://www.homeworkhelpers.info - TRICK TEACHERS, UNBLOCK MYSPACE FREE

http://www.proxygen.info - UNBLOCK MYSPACE, FREE MYSPACE PROXY

 

poop is good for you to eat

 

yea i think they shouldnt block stuff on computer i mean me being a musican i need people to listen to my stuff

ac/dc

 

angus is cool

and

poop is good to eat

 

i think that this is totally retarded

 

I HATE SMARTFILLTER THEY CAN GO KISS MY DIK. AND WHOS THE DIK HEAD WHO INVENTED THIS DUMB SHIT ANYWAYS. I LUV (.)(.)

 

http://www.ehide.info

that seems to work perfectly for me.

Dude I think you are gay. Go suck his dik?

 
 

i dont understand why myspace in banned in schools what is wrong with chit chat dunriing work isnt not like e dnt do it when we gert home work it doesnt affect the quality of work is long as work is still getting done i dont see why there is a problem. mypace isnt a site where randomers can chat because you have too add them before you talk and the other person has to accept you before the conversations cn begin. now we can just use sites like this to chat to peeps that we dont know there will always be somewhere to chat!!!

lv me
zoe

 

I one hundred percent believe that networking sites should be banned in schools. It was when I was in school and I must say we knew that we couldn’t access those sites so we didn’t even try. Why should it be allowed. School is a place where children are to be educated. Children shouldn’t be worrying about their education and not how many new message they have on my space. Also parents are worried about their children coming into contact with hate on the internet then why would you want them to have a chance of comming into contact with it while at school? Wouldn’t this only increase the likelyhood of bullying in schools? I just don’t get it. Are REPUBLICANS the only smart one around here when it comes to bettering the future of our children and making them safe? Schools are suppose to be a safe place and when we allow our children to get online and chit chat possible badly about other children shcools aren’t safe!

 

hey, what is up with this? it is the parents and kids fault! if a parent does not care about their kid enough to moniter their myspace then… hey it is the stupid parents fault! why should us responsible kids be punished for the mistakes of idiots. 12, 13, 14 year old girls get these myspaces and load them with crap about bein 18 and wanting ‘it’. i am not one of those girl so why do i have to be punished?

 

hey i dnt care what u other ppl thik i still believe that myspace should be unblocked at breaks and dinners i dont see the harm in ppl goin on n changin their ages because if they r silly enought to think the guy aint gonna relise when they meet them then that is their own childish fault

 

If any 1 nows an web site email me lilgeorgia93@aol.com

 

I HAVE THE BEST LAYOUT IN THE WORLD OF HTML

 

i go to a boarding school and they have blokd msn and bebo and all those sites so i havent got much contact with my friends apart from my fone.

 

THIS is so stupid why we can’t get on it we aer responsible they want us to act adult when the onley freakin websit that we can get on is DISNEY im a junior in HIGH SCHOOL it suck us not being able to check all our emails on tagged,myspace,msn,yahoo,and face book, it is all just really out of hand i understand y not myspace i have it but we shouldn’t be alowed to do it at school because it IS dangours and i understand that im completly ok w/ that it is just redicouls why we canot go to our emails we have calsses were we can chill and be on computers for 1hour it is just rediciouls but i want someone to email me back and tell me if im just over reacting or wat
by

 
 

im not going to cuse you guys out that is not the way you guys are going t olet us get through to it we have to show you how responsiable we are i think we cannot handel haveing it

 
 

Fuck all this shit. Who gives a damn about the fucking gov.

 

myspace should not be blocked!!! wankers

 

WTF this is so stupid, Most kids like myself have free lessons and have fuck all to do. So why the fuck block myspace? seriously it’s not fair you fucking pricks!!

 

My space should noy be Blocked

 

Um yea I need a website so I can get on myspace at school……so yea

 

Any one 3mail m3 if u got a way 2 g3t on at bonitamami2006@yahoo.com

 

Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] 5 » Show All

Leave Comment

« Back to text comment

Commenting Options

Enter your personal information to the left, or sign in with your Facebook account by clicking the button below.

Alternatively, you can create an avatar that will appear whenever you leave a comment on a Gravatar-enabled blog.