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The Moral Panic over Social-Networking Sites

Continued from page 1

By Wade Roush

Monday, August 07, 2006

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Current Internet filters at schools and libraries -- some aimed at pornography and obscene materials, some already targeting social-networking sites -- have "a tremendous chilling effect on education," agrees Jeff Cooper, an educational-technology consultant and former high-school teacher in Portland, OR. "The 'Just Say No' philosophy has never worked," Cooper says. "You're lumping all social networking into the negative basket, and not giving kids any alternative. But there is so much good stuff online that nobody ever talks about."

Indeed, while it might be easy to agree that teens shouldn't be wasting time on MySpace or other social-networking sites while they're at school, DOPA would cover any site that allows networking and chatting. As one example, Cooper points to TappedIn.org, a social-networking and professional-development site for teachers. Students often use personal and public "rooms" on the site as part of virtual classroom activities. "It allows teachers to bring their students online in a very safe and secure environment," explains Cooper. "My concern isn't really that MySpace won't be accessible from schools, but that other sites like TappedIn will be banned."

DOPA supporters frequently cite a 2000 report about online sexual victimization funded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which concluded that one-fifth of children have been sexually solicited in chat rooms, by instant message, or by e-mail. But in fact, as Boyd and other opponents point out, the same report states that most solicitations come from other young people -- only 4 percent are from adults over 25 -- and that most kids deal with these solicitations simply by not answering or logging off. "To clamp down on a bunch of new networking sites really doesn't do anything" to stop sexual predators, says Cooper. "You might as well shut off the Internet entirely."

Opponents of DOPA misunderstand the bill, says Jeff Urbanchuck, a press officer for Representative Fitzpatrick. He says it is intended only to reduce the risk to teens from one particular category of websites -- those where members can create online profiles and fill them with personal details, including e-mail or instant-messaging addresses, that help predators contact them. Critics are "extending beyond the MySpaces and Facebooks and arguing that the technology of social networking is so pervasive now that the Internet is going to become one big social-networking site," Urbanchuck says. "But the objective of the bill is to deal with the growing threat of online predators on specific sites that allow profiles. We want to tailor the bill to those sites."

Even banning access just to sites that allow profiles, however, would affect scores of educational, community, and media-sharing sites, including sites as popular as Flickr and as specialized as TappedIn. And in the longer term, predicts Boyd, the law would simply drive teen networking underground, where it would be more difficult for adults to monitor. "They'll be moving from site to site with a level of ephemerality that no one can keep up with," she says. "Not the cops -- not even the designers of the technology."

Comments

  • The Super Majority
    This bill passed because we were stupid and Congress in a rush to go home. It is no one's fault but our own. It's also a case of an anti-tax reactionary Republican rejection of the E-Rate that subsidizes all school-library internet, and a very, very lazy lobbying effort on the part of progressives.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Joe Beckmann)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
  • I thought schools were for learning...
    and libraries for study!  Now they are supposed to be unsupervised e-social portals?!  There was a reason we had teachers and principals at the school dance. 
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Peter)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
    • Public Libraries...
      Are very different today than they might have been in your day.  I am a public librarian, and part of my mission is to promote the library as a community space.  Offering free internet access is now the norm, and the people who use the Internet at the library are the people who are already technologically diasadvantaged - poor, or otherwise underprivileged.  They cannot afford to have computers with Internet access in their homes.  Why should they be denied the opportunity to use the technology that is a part of every day life?  And why should the federal government have the option of restricting their access to Constitutionally protected language and ideas?
      Rate this comment: 12345
      Guest (Katrina)
      08/08/2006
      Posts:1
  • Article is obviously biased. Specious arguments
    Moral panic?  How about common sense?  Stifle education by blocking MySpace during school hours? Defending the poor downtrodden who only get 10 minutes of computer time and can't use it to chat? People attacking restrictions on sexual predation have a hidden agenda. How could they argue their true motive?
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Steve)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
  • I couldn't agree with this article more
    This bill does ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING to protect anyone.  Honestly, how many of the kids being solicited online are those that only have access through a public portal?  The ones most at risk for any kind of harm are those that spend hours at home couped up in the corner of their own rooms with their own computers.  What we need is better awareness and education...mostly for parents.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Ulysses Everett McGill)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
  • Children First
    This article shows no proof that the legislation will not have a positive impact. On the contrary, it highlights an excellent policy with great potential for success and, for reasons unexplained, attempts to bury the policy’s merit in a subterfuge of negative rhetoric. You’d almost have to be some form of a sexual predator to buy into this ridiculous argument. I say protect our kids at all cost, even if it threatens a few people in the tech industry.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Rudy Gaskins)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
    • Children First
      This comment shows no proof that the legislation will not have a negative impact. The author would almost have to be a sexual predator trying to hide under the umbrella of this useless legislation.
      Rate this comment: 12345
      Guest (Jeff Martin)
      08/08/2006
      Posts:1
  • Social interaction is an educational process...
    It is easier to learn from others that are already knowledgeable. Social networking is a legitimate way to get research tips and direction. The proponents of this bill are really afraid that their kids will see through their own narrow views. Point made, I ask who here in refutation lets their kids on social networking sites? More importantly which ones? 
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Jessey)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
  • Education not prevention
    Seems to me this is like burning books to prevent children from reading "bad" things. Why not start a program to educate the kids and make them smart surferes.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Sandy)
    08/07/2006
    Posts:1
    • Burning books
      The knee jerk reaction to anything that differs from the "accepted norm" is the book burning phenomena.  If Senator Ted Stevens' description of how internet packets work is anything like an example of the level of undestanding we have in our government today it's no wonder they're trying to burn it down!  Sigh. 

      As the article points out, if the rules get too stupid it'll just go underground.  The next generation is already guaranteed to be better programmers/hackers than this one so it won't be that hard for them.
      Rate this comment: 12345
      Guest (ddb)
      08/08/2006
      Posts:1
      • Techno Idiots Populate Our Government
        I researched the level  of technical understanding in the US governement for a column in a trade mag last year. I talked to a half-dozen trade associations to find out if there were any knowledgeable government people (elected or appointed) on tech. Result: Ed Markey (MA)
        These stupid laws are either written by lobbyists or Karl Rove-directed zombies in the Republican party pandering to ignorant voters.
        If you think this is bad, read the eight or so "telecom deregulation" bills floating aroung.
        Deregulation, in this vein, means handcuffing your competitors (if it was written by a telco or CATV company) or deregulating to the original telecom bill of 1934.
        Remember the joke used to be "miliatry intelligence" is an oxymoron? Now it's "government intelligence."
        Rate this comment: 12345
        Guest (Anonymous)
        08/11/2006
        Posts:1
      • Techno Idiots Populate Our Government
        I researched the level  of technical understanding in the US governement for a column in a trade mag last year. I talked to a half-dozen trade associations to find out if there were any knowledgeable government people (elected or appointed) on tech. Result: Ed Markey (MA)
        These stupid laws are either written by lobbyists or Karl Rove-directed zombies in the Republican party pandering to ignorant voters.
        If you think this is bad, read the eight or so "telecom deregulation" bills floating aroung.
        Deregulation, in this vein, means handcuffing your competitors (if it was written by a telco or CATV company) or deregulating to the original telecom bill of 1934.
        Remember the joke used to be "miliatry intelligence" is an oxymoron? Now it's "government intelligence."
        Rate this comment: 12345
        Guest (Anonymous)
        08/11/2006
        Posts:1
  • What about the Nazis?
    I have read every liberal cliche trotted out here except this one. Is there no mention of the perverts that cause this kind of restriction to be necessary. No, they are alright, it's the restrictors fault. I guess somewhere down the line George Bush and Dick Cheney are responsible for all this in the first place. You people could be called pathetic, if you weren't just plain sick yourselves.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest
    08/11/2006
    Posts:1
  • Critics call...
    Let's see - "Critics call" and then there's "Experts say" and then again " Studies indicate". Let's see which one of these you can use in your next article to denigrate conservatives.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest
    08/11/2006
    Posts:1
    • Denigrate Conservatives?
      "Let's see which one of these you can use in your next article to denigrate conservatives."

      Don't worry - conservatives do a fine job denigrating themselves with the fire and brimstone talk.

      This legislation is nothing more than a band aid solution, baked in reactionary rhetoric, drafted and supported by people (democrat and republican) who don't understand how the internet works - the less you know about something, the scarier it becomes, and the easier it is to demonize it and look like you're doing the 'right thing' by making it illegal.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uuJh4bv-fg
      Rate this comment: 12345
      Guest (Frederick Ghahramani)
      08/12/2006
      Posts:1
  • Data Recovery Solutions
    Stellar Phoenix Windows data recovere is the foremost solution to meet all Windows based data recovery software needs. The software contains several advanced features as RAW File Recovery, Create Image, Advanced Search, File Filter, File Mask etc. This Data Recovery Software is compatible with FAT16, FAT32, vFAT, NTFS5 and NTFS file systems. It supports Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.
    Rate this comment: 12345

    vineetkumar
    04/29/2009
    Posts:1

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