The Social Networking Website Prohibition Act (S.B. 1682), the Illinois law proposed by Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) February 9, requires all public libraries in the state to “prohibit access to social networking websites on all computers made available to the public.” Public schools face a similar restriction on all student computers, and the Illinois attorney general or any citizen could file suit against libraries and schools that fail to comply with the ban.
Proposed laws in Georgia (S.B. 59) and North Carolina (S.B. 132) go after the owners of social networking sites and would force them to prevent minors from creating or maintaining a web page without parental permission. Companies would also be required—in those two states—to allow parents or guardians to have access to their children’s pages at all times.
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act (S. 49) January 4. Like DOPA last year and the Children’s Internet Protection Act, the bill would require libraries that receive e-rate funding to block minors’ access to social networking sites unless they are supervised by an adult or have parental consent.
The bills are largely in reaction to news reports that convicted sex offenders were setting up profiles on MySpace in order to meet unsuspecting minors—as happened to a 13-year-old Austin, Texas, girl who says she was assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met through MySpace. The girl’s family sued the company for negligence over the incident in 2006, but a district court judge dismissed the lawsuit February 14, saying MySpace was protected from liability by the Communications Decency Act of 1996, according to a Reuters report. MySpace currently faces similar litigation in California.
Illinois Library Association Executive Director Robert P. Doyle said in the February 16 Chicago Tribune that librarians are genuinely concerned about the online predators that are the real targets of this legislation, but “parents need to talk to their kids about what their expectations are and what the ground rules are.” He added that Murphy’s bill does not adequately define what a social networking site is.
“All the bills fail to recognize that many blogs, wikis, and other legitimate and helpful sources of information on the internet can fall under their broad definition of ‘social networks,’” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told American Libraries. “Moreover, despite the requirement of parental consent, none of them address the real need for educational programs that will equip youth to navigate the internet safely,” she added. “The bills seem poised only to drive youth on the internet underground, where they will be far more vulnerable to predators.”
Posted February 16, 2007.