Lauran, you asked for opinions so here goes. If you read the text of HR 5319 IH, the "Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006" (http://www.techlawjournal.com/cong109/bills/house/hr5319/hr5319ih.asp), you will see that the document has so many problems I would be surprised if it ever got out of committee. If enacted it would, in essence, bar minors from anything but passive consumption of the internet when they access from school or a library. It is also so broadly worded that most online writing sites, even those that are passworded and held on school servers would have to be discontinued under the bill. Two notes: 1) Chat sites were blocked by many schools and libraries after the enactment of previous legislation, so that part of the discussion has already been resolved by many schools and library boards. 2) This bill does nothing to stop the flow of questionable materials through email. A list of co-sponsors is available at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5319. If your legislator is on the list please take the time to contact their office with your opinion on this bill. Lois Ann Scheidt Doctoral Student - School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington IN USA Future Faculty Teaching Fellow (2005-2006) - School of Informatics, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis IN USA Webpage: http://www.loisscheidt.com Blog: http://www.professional-lurker.com Quoting "Lauren M. Squires" <lauren.squires@gmail.com>:

Well put, danah. I am interested in the fact that this message didn't inspire any responses to the list or discussion. Perhaps I've been out of the loop, but this was the first I'd heard of DOPA - HAVE I been out of the loop, or has it not been covered very thoroughly? I'm very curious as to other AoIRer's thoughts about it, if anyone feels like sharing.

Related, I just heard a story on NPR about high schools in Illinois starting to police "blog sites," which folks working on youth/privacy/parenting might find interesting: http://www.suntimes.com/output/tech/cst-nws-online23.html I guess the story broke about a week ago, but I have some summertime news lag. Apparently only one parent spoke up to protest the schools' decision - regardless of where one stands on the issue personally, that singularity seems kind of shocking.

Lauren

On 5/25/06, danah boyd <aoir.z3z@danah.org> wrote:

...

Henry Jenkins and i co-authored an interview essay based on questions from the MIT News Office to address concerns related to the proposed American law entitled Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA). We recognize that parents and legislators are concerned, but we do not believe that DOPA is the best approach and we fear that, if implemented, it will cause more harm than good. We conducted this interview in the hopes that it provides valuable information for parents, legislators and press who are interested in the issue.

http://www.danah.org/papers/MySpaceDOPA.html

I believe that this topic affects our research community as a whole. The proposed law affects most Internet communities, including chatrooms, mailing lists, photo sharing sites, gaming environments and social network sites. It is also a slippery slope legislative piece, working to give American legislators more control over who participates online, in what ways and where. Collectively, we have a lot of knowledge about this terrain and the positive aspects of digital culture. This needs to be surfaced publicly in order to combat the culture of fear. I know that most of you aren't obsessing about MySpace as much as i am, but i believe that what is happening with MySpace will affect many of us on this list.

Finally, as researchers, we're often faced with how press cover this terrain and we're often asked to speak out as experts. For better or worse, i've become a press puppet on all things MySpace and i'm tired of seeing myself in print. I also believe that there are other voices that need to be heard, other relevant academic knowledge that needs to be elevated. I have to imagine that there are other academics who could join me in addressing the press and combatting the fears the public has over how people use technology. If you are interested in speaking to the press about these issues, please let me know. In particular, i'm especially looking for other researchers who have expertise in digital youth, online/offline sociability, online dating, risk assessment, reputation costs, gaming, blogging and anything else you might be seeing the press cover right now under the fear category. I know that public-facing academic engagement is controversial, but i'm definitely in the camp which says, "I am obliged to contribute. Silence is complicity" (Diane Bell, "Writing in the eye of a storm"). My hope is that others are interested in helping combat the fear-mongering with all of the knowledge that we have about this domain.

danah

- - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - - "taken out of context i must seem so strange"

musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts

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Lauren wrote:

Well put, danah. I am interested in the fact that this message didn't inspire any responses to the list or discussion.

In answer to the direct, rather than the meta-, question: I suspect many of us see this as an issue of activism rather than research. I disagree with such an assessment. The support for this comes from a base of voters who are frightened by the behaviors made visible through MySpace, and that basic fear is exacerbated by fear-mongering in (and by) the news media. Especially at this stage, the more effective response is not lobbying, but rather (as danah suggests) making your voice heard in the press and studying the ways in which MySpace and social networking is used by students. A clear demonstration of the benefits of such systems to students, especially for educational purposes, would have, I think, the most significant impact on the debate. Certainly, on its face, the bill seems to curtail what we might think of as the freedom of our children. But the supporters of the bill represent constituencies that do not recognize the same set of freedoms as many of us do. If research were to show that exposure to MySpace led to better performance in school--or at least no worse performance in school--I think this would put a bit of a crimp on the whole thing, if it actually makes any progress in the Congress. My bet, however, is that the only traction intended is in the mid-term elections, and DOPA will quietly evaporate once the elections are over. Issues of net neutrality seem a bit more pressing at the moment. - Alex -- // // This email is // [X] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais // Social Architect // http://alex.halavais.net //

A research-oriented approach might instead emphasize quantification of online predation (which has been insanely exaggerated), comparisons to other media (predation isn't unique to online sites),

More power to you. I guess the reason I wouldn't go this way is that I suspect that online predation--of some form--isn't that exaggerated. Much of that suspicion comes of talking to undergraduates and taking informal polls of my classes (an admittedly biased sample). And I'm not sure that showing that "only" 5% or 10% of young people are propositioned for sex online would have any significant effect on the debate. It's important that parents understand that children can be the target of sexual predators on the internet and on the playground, and be provided with the tools to prepare their children. Again, I also suspect that predation is really just a useful facade for parents feeling unprepared to see their teenage children and students frankly discussing sex in a public forum. Even if you show that MySpace & Facebook aren't a magnet for child molesters, good luck showing that they are not sexually charged.

and the impossiblity of enforcement (what online *isn't* arguably a "social networking service"?)

I think you mean the power that the law puts in the hands of administrators to decide what is acceptable--in other words, that it is overbroad. People said that CIPA was unenforceable. Just look over the ALA's resistance to the law. But that hasn't stopped it from being rolled out. - Alex -- // // This email is // [X] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais // Social Architect // http://alex.halavais.net //