Just when you thought the media circus around MySpace had peaked comes this whopper of a story: members of Congress have proposed new legislation that would require schools and libraries to block access to online social networks.

As reported by C|NET, the Deleting Online Predators Act (PDF), or DOPA, would update the federal law that currently requires all schools and libraries receiving federal E-Rate money (the government program that subsidizes the cost of Internet access) to filter inappropriate websites. The amendment to the law would be even more specific, restricting access to interactive online communities.

According to the proposed legislation, the bill

prohibits access by minors without parental authorization to a commercial social networking website or chat room through which minors may easily access or be presented with obscene or in- decent material; may easily be subject to unlawful sexual advances, unlawful requests for sexual favors, or repeated offensive comments of a sexual nature from adults may easily access other material that is harmful to minors.

(more…)

Related posts

• Social Mapping or, Mapping Fucking (0)
• links for 2008-01-30 (1)
• It’s Your Space, Right? Nuh-Uh. (0)
• Web Site Hunts Pedophiles, and TV Goes Along (NYT) (0)