Posted by Beth Yoke:
Recently a member of Congress (Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick R-PA) has proposed legislation called the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA). If the legislation passes, it will force sweeping changes on the Internet. It seeks to target sites like MySpace by regulating “commercial social network sites.” They are defined as any 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.
The goal of the proposed legislation would be to expand the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to include commercial social network sites among those to be filtered in facilities that use federal funds to provide Internet access through the E-Rate, like schools and public libraries.
To learn more about this proposed legislation, or to find out how to contact your Congressperson, go to the ALA Washington Office’s site.
There’s an interesting conversation happening on DOPA in Danah’s blog: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/05/11/antisocial_netw.html
How does this dovetail with the plan to find a way to make money with Internet tollbooths? Seems like the government is stepping in to control more and more…