We Don’t Need No Tech Control
The Deleting Online Predators Act is both dopey and dangerous
By Brian Kenney, Editor-in-Chief -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2006
The proposed Deleting Online Predators Act (H. R. 5319)—you have to love its acronym, DOPA—is bad news for schools and libraries. The latest federal attempt to control technology, the bill would try to protect minors from “commercial social networking websites and chat rooms.” This includes any site that “allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves… and offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.” This would put off-limits a wide swath of the Internet: MySpace, but also Blogger, AIM, parts of Google and Yahoo!, and perhaps even news sites like NYTimes.com (it allows visitors to create profiles and add comments). The government would get the job done by extending the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and requiring that schools and libraries block these social networking sites or else forfeit federal e-rate funds for Internet access.
Yes, here we go again. A “quick fix” that we’re not asking for, which won’t work, and which subverts the real purpose of schools and libraries: educating young people. No matter where you come down on the whole MySpace-in-libraries debate, do you really want your library locked in a “technobubble,” cut off from the evolving Internet?
It’s tempting to dismiss it all as crazy talk, but don’t forget, this is an election year. The act is part of a package of legislation proposed, on May 10, by the 50 or so members of the newly formed Republican Suburban Caucus. They are attempting to address the concerns of a growing demographic—suburban swing voters—an important constituency in November’s elections. With the media whipping the nation into hysteria about the perils of MySpace, what politician wouldn’t want to be seen as protecting kids, even with vague legislation that’s likely to be ruled unconstitutional? That’s the fear factor: whatever their real opinion, politicians will vote for DOPA rather than risk being painted as pro-predator.
The Internet is full of the best and worst of our culture, including, yes, predators. Just like there are predators at the mall and—as we’ve become all too aware of in the last decade—churches as well. But we all know that the solution, even if it was possible, is not to block young people from these venues, but to teach responsible behavior, in life and online. Children need to learn how to navigate the Internet safely while preserving their privacy.
DOPA is overly broad and too restrictive. If enacted, teaching information literacy will be truncated, while valuable tools for learning and teaching would be banned. It will widen the technology gap, as rich schools ignore it and poorer ones are forced to comply. The worst of it is that it’s completely unnecessary. CIPA already requires that schools and libraries filter out content deemed harmful to minors. So if schools are concerned about a site, they already have the tools to block it. Let’s keep the control local.
We need to get out the word to our legislators that the best way to defeat online predators isn’t DOPA. It’s to let teachers and librarians teach and students learn. As always, our best defense is education.
Brian Kenney
Editor-in-Chief
bkenney@reedbusiness.com
