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House Holds Hearings on Social-Networking WebsitesThe House of Representatives held hearings July 11 on whether schools and libraries should be made ineligible for e-rate funding unless they bar minors from access to social-networking websites like MySpace and Friendster. Testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet came two months after the introduction of the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), H.R. 5319, which would also prohibit minors in schools and libraries from visiting websites that “allow users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves” or that offer “communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, e-mail, or instant messenger.”“The internet and social networking sites have redefined, reinvented, and reinvigorated child predators, drug dealers, and bullies,” stated David W. Zellis, first assistant district attorney for Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Noting that no one would allow a child molester to use a physical library setting to “groom children for future sexual exploitation,” Zellis contended, “that is exactly what is going on when children in school or at the library are permitted to freely access commercial networking sites like MySpace and chat rooms.” “No one is more concerned with the safety of children online than librarians,” testified Beth Yoke, executive director of the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association, who emphasized that “education about safe internet practices—for both youth and parents—is the best way to protect young people.” She added that DOPA’s effect on schools and libraries receiving e-rate monies would inadvertently “limit opportunities for those who do not have internet access at home.” “If the goal is protecting children and combating child exploitation, why should these requirements apply only to schools receiving e-rate funding—the poorer schools?” agreed Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the Cnet online news service reported July 12. Posted July 14, 2006. |
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