Illinois Introduces New Social Networking Bill
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Norman Oder -- School Library Journal, 2/21/2007
If you thought the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) was dead, think again. Matt Murphy, a freshman Republican senator from Illinois, has introduced a bill that would require public libraries to ban access to social networking sites on all public computers, including those used by adults, as well as prohibit access to these sites by students in schools.
Although the Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly may not be too receptive to Murphy's Social Networking Website Prohibition Act, several states may follow suit. DOPA passed the House in July 2006 but has languished in the Senate. The bill, introduced last May by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) as a way to protect kids from online sexual predators and smut, would have required schools and libraries that receive federal Internet subsidies to block children from accessing social networking sites, as well as instant messages, e-mail, wikis, and blogs.
Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, says that among members of the Media Coalition, an anticensorship group, "the consensus is that social networking legislation is going to be the next thing down the pike."
In Georgia, she notes, a new bill would make it illegal for the owner/operator of a social networking Web site to allow a minor to set up a profile without parental permission. And a similar bill has been introduced in North Carolina.
"I think that libraries are an integral part of the whole debate about social networking, because it's such an important communication medium that young people are using," Krug adds. "If young people are using it, it's incumbent on us to help them use it responsibly and safely."
