An
electronic alert from the
American Library Association's Washington Office reports that the House is planning to rush HR 5319, the so-called "Deleting Online Predators Act", through in the next day or two. This bill would require many libraries and schools to block all websites that offered chat, e'mail, or social networking options.
The ALA alert warns of action to be taken today, July 26. So does
Library Journal.
Thomas, the Congressional legislative website, indicates that introductory remarks on the bill
are scheduled for tomorrow, July 27th. If anyone with more knowledge of Congressional schedule-fiddling can clarify what's going on, I'd appreciate it.
I've written about this particular bill before, but the gist of it is that it would require all schools and libraries that receive any federal E-rate funding to block access to all electronic commercial social-networking sites and chat rooms.
According to the text of the bill, internet services to be banned from affected libraries and schools include:
(J) COMMERCIAL SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES- The term `commercial social networking website' means a commercially operated Internet website that--
i) allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and
(ii) offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.
This is being billed as a way to protect the children from the nefarious influence of sites like MySpace, but as I understand it, it would also require affected libraries and schools to block most online discussion communities such as DailyKos, as well as chat, e'mail, and other forms of interactive web services. Beth Yoke, of the ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association, explains (NOTE: pdf file) some of the reasons why this is a bad idea. Other relevant news & views can be found here, as usual.
I'd love to spend more time commenting on this, but if it's being rushed through the House today or tomorrow, it's imperative that I post this diary immediately before the bill is a fait accompli.
EDIT, 1:20 pm. I clearly need to refine my searching skills, since I failed to find Waitfortheword's prior (and superior) diary on this subject. My apologies.
Rather than deleting this diary, though, I'm going to use it to direct interested readers to Waitfortheword's much more detailed and insightful diary, along with insightful comments from Adam B and others. For some reason it hasn't grabbed as much attention as it deserves, and this issue is of great and timely importance. Go there, and check it out, and let your Congresscritter know what you think. Do it now.