Congress may vote on the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), H.R. 5319, TODAY. Call your representative and urge him or her to reject this bill, which would institute incredibly broad restrictions on students' and library patrons' access to social networking sites and even blogs, all in the interest of mitigating the wildly exaggerated threat of "online predators."
This bit of paranoid legislation, drafted by Rep. Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and supported by the House Republican Suburban Caucus, would set incredibly (and perhaps unconstitutionally) broad restrictions on students' and library patrons' access to "web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users" or "offer a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.
A few reasons to oppose DOPA:
1) While the threat of sexual predators is real, it is being blown out of proportion to frighten and mobilize suburban voters. Less than 1% of incidents of child sexual abuse are perpetrated by strangers. In other words, your kid is at greater risk at a church picnic or little league game than on MySpace.
2) Blocking access to social networking sites at school or in the library won't help kids navigate the web wisely, or teach them how to protect themselves and identify actual threats.
3) While DOPA is clearly aimed at MySpace, the language is so broad that it would probably be applied to restrict access to sites like Daily Kos!
4) This bill would only further the "digital divide" by restricting use of certain sites to those who don't have a computer at home, and rely on the school or library for access to an important social and educational tool.
5) From the American Library Association: "It is manifestly the purview of the local school districts and libraries to determine what content should flow into schools and libraries. Federal mandate over content control is very problematic."
While there are clearly educational merits to countless blogs and social networking sites, schools can of course institute rules to ensure that students focus on actual work. It's hard to object to schools blocking sites they find inappropriate, especially if they have reason to feel that MySpace is being used in ways that are disruptive to the educational environment. But the most important point here is that they ALREADY have that authority, and we do not need national legislation to create a blanket set of rules to supersede what ought to be a local, district-by-district or even school-by-school decision.
Libraries, however, present a much more important First Amendment case, since they are open to adults and kids, and they should be venues for unfettered access to information. Librarians have a very strong argument against DOPA:
Beth Yoke, executive director of Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), last week testified on DOPA before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. She observed: "Youth librarians believe, and more importantly know from experience, that education about safe Internet practices - for both youth and parents - is the best way to protect young people. We believe that the overly broad technological controls that would be required under DOPA are often ineffective given the fast-moving nature of modern technology. Further, such technological controls often inadvertently obstruct access to beneficial sites."
For more information on DOPA and some excellent analysis of the actual benefits and risks of access to social networking sites, check out this interview between MIT professor Henry Jenkins and Danah Boyd.
There must be, at the very least, more public discussion of the implications of this bill before it gets pushed through Congress. We only need 1/3 of the house (plus one) to forestall what is clearly a restrictive and unnecessary restriction on young people's free expression and access to information. Please call your representative: (202) 224-3121 or contact them online.