So the dopey House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed DOPA, and we’ve got to get our acts together to make sure Senators have more of a clue about what’s happening with technology out here in the “real” world. I wonder how many of them come even close to “getting” everything that’s shifting and changing, the way we are connecting, the learning that’s happening in social spaces, the fact that this bill takes away our ability to teach our students in meaningful, realistic ways not only how they can stay safe, but even more importantly, how they can learn, network, interact, and become continuous learners.
I’m really pissed at the media on a number of levels, first for they way they have sensationalized the whole MySpace issue into ratings by pumping up shows that “catch” online predators and stories that almost celebrate the ignorance of kids who aren’t being taught not to trust the people they meet online and to keep personal information private. They’ve preyed on the ignorance of the masses who really aren’t paying close attention and just scared them into thinking that there is danger at every turn, when in reality our kids are more at risk for sexual predation from their family members than online. And second, I’m mad at the media because of the utter, total lack of coverage this stupid bill has gotten. Here it is about 24 hours after the fact and there still is NOT ONE story on Google News that the bill actually passed. NOT ONE!
But why am I surprised? It’s politics. It’s fear-mongering.
It’s stupidity.
So now we’ve got to take this fight, really take this fight to our senators. I have no idea of the timeframe, but it’s going to be short, and are any among us optimistic?
Here is an article that I just got forwarded that gives a pretty clear indication of what’s next…I’ll try to find the source.
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Lobbying Group Criticizes Bill To Curb Networking Site Access
by Heather Greenfield
  Opponents of a measure limiting certain access to social networking sites are trying to drain support for it before the Senate takes action. The House passed H.R. 5319 Wednesday evening.
  The bill, sponsored by freshman Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., would require schools and libraries receiving special funding for Internet services to keep young people from accessing social networking Web sites like Myspace.com and chat rooms. There is concern that the sites have become havens for pedophiles and pornographers trolling for victims.
  The Information Technology Association of America fought behind the scenes against the legislation and decided to go public with its objections early this week when it realized the legislation would be fast-tracked for a vote as part of a Republican initiative aimed at
passing issues that matter to the Suburban Caucus.
  “We’re concerned that on the face of it, this is one of those overly broad pieces of legislation,” said association Vice President Mark Uncapher.
  While the legislation leaves it up to the FCC to define what exactly will be allowed, Uncapher said the concern is it could deny access to any area of the Internet where users may post home pages or other information, including Amazon.com book reviews, for example, or on sites like America Online, eBay and Yahoo. ITAA plans to meet with
Senate leaders and staff to express those concerns.
  “I am extremely pleased that the House moved so quickly to pass this important legislation,” Fitzpatrick said.
  “As chairman of the Suburban Agenda Caucus, we are very proud of Congressman Fitzpatrick’s bipartisan leadership to protect children from this new threat,” said Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.
  While there currently is no companion Senate legislation, it is the Suburban Caucus’ job to find a vehicle and make sure issues like this pass both chambers.
  President Bush signed H.R. 4472 Thursday, a child protection and safety act that included portions of an Internet safety bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. aimed at curbing online child pornography. That eliminates one likely Senate vehicle, but there are others.
  A caucus staff member said the item could be attached to other legislation to promote child safety, including a bill from Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., that had been introduced.
  “We’re actively engaged, and we hope to see action in the Senate very soon,” said Fitzpatrick spokesman Jeff Urbanchuk.
  “It could be picked up and rammed through quickly,” acknowledged Rick Weingarten, director of the information technology office for the American Library Association. “We certainly hope the Senate will take a more deliberative approach to the controlling the Internet than the House has.”
  But he added after seeing the political maneuverings and speed of the House bill, his group is “certainly not going to sit back and wait until something happens.”
  The ALA plans to send a letter Thursday afternoon to all senators. Lynne Bradley, ALA director of government relations, said librarians are concerned as anyone about child safety, but the legislation is not the best way to protect children.
  “The best tool because technology changes so rapidly is education, education, education,” Bradley said.
Dang. Even my Rep (Anita Eshoo, usually not bad) voted for this piece of junk.)
Here’s a diatribe from Alaska:
http://juneauempire.com/entertainment/stories/072706/kor_20100727001.shtml
Here, it’s the Juneau School District’s short-sighted, inane, nine-months-in-the-making verdict to block MySpace.com, xanga.com, friendster.com and facebook.com.
“In examining it we decided the social networking sites did not have any educational purpose,” superintendent Peggy Cowan said, in the July 12 Empire. “They were strictly social.”
When I was in school, teachers tried anything they could to get us interested in computers. Now, they’re trying anything they can to wean kids off the mouse.
Social networking, with friends and family, is part of a well-rounded education. When will educators start educating and embrace technology? Kids are engaged by the Internet, and getting their attention is half the battle.
Every teacher in the district should have a MySpace page with their course syllabus, notes from lectures, homework assignments, online-discussion forums for students and relevant links. The possibilities are endless.
At the popular “An Evening at JDHS” exhibits last school year, parents were pleased to have a chance to see their kids’ academic projects.
“Most students don’t get a venue to showcase their academics to their parents when they’re in high school,” organizer Brett Dillingham said, back in April.
Imagine if an entire class was linked on MySpace, and each student had a photo gallery and short films of their schoolwork (see the youtube.com story on pages 10-11). Not only would students learn Web-authoring and software skills, but a local class could link with another anywhere in the world.
Sure, the Web is a playground for a lot of unsavory characters. But if your kid is at school chatting with a 46-year-old pedophile in Denver, something is wrong with your kid. Internet safety is part of parenting, and should be part of every library-skills class in every elementary school.
Congress, teachers and officials don’t understand the Internet. Why are they regulating a good thing?
• Korry Keeker can be reached at korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.
Well, I just wrote my senator. I recommended this blog as a good place to start to educate herself and other Congress men and women in the Read/Write Web. I also asked her to pick up your book, Will, and I even recommended she contact you, so that you and your colleagues could share with congress the potential of these social networking tools in a classroom.
I explained to her that school is not the place kids get into trouble with this sort of thing. I agree with you – we should be teaching kids in school about how to participate on-line in a safe manner. Instead, they are doing it at home in the “safety” of their homes. Where is Dateline now? I don’t know how many of you watch Dateline, but I watch it religiously and when they had their stories on about on-line predators, the hour long show was packed with conversations with parents who had no idea what their children were doing in their own home, their home, not 7th period study hall. School was not mentioned once!
My senator has always followed through with my e-mails (or at least her office employees do), so blog away. I know she will check this site out!
Will, I hear what you are saying but in this I am optimistic for one very important reason. I am a parent. It is under my control how to teach my children. After reading several posts from bloggers I admire and getting heated and bothered by this, I decided to start a blog for my son and do what you have suggested which is to teach him the correct way to use technology.
After loading the blog software on my server and demonstrating this to my son, he was ready to begin. Together we talked about being safe online and not to give out personal information EVER! When I was helping him with his about page, I suggested providing an email that would drop into my account but he looked at me and said, “Dad, I don’t want to give out that information.”
After the blog was setup, his first response was to tell all his friends so they could comment on his posts. My next step is to setup an aggregator for him and help him find other children who are posting. This is not a giant step but a measurable one.
Yes, I will contact my Senator and yes I will help others understand the reprecussions of this decision but most importantly, I will make a difference in those I can influence immediately. I will help my children safely grow into the world that surrounds them. If our government cannot see what is happen or thinks they can control the WWW then let that be their downfall for soon none of them will be in office because technology will have overcome them.
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, a fellow blogger you link to, posted a good perspective that we all need to be reminded of: stay grounded in reality, stay focused and make the difference you can make. You are making incredible strides helping others like me experience a whole new way of educating. Keep opening our eyes until the majority tells congress what they can do with their silly, stupid bills around election time!
In case you haven’t noticed by now, this House of Representatives is made up of certifiable neanderthals. They pass all kinds of crazy crap (see also immigration…). The question is what the Senate will do.
Will, I love your passion. I have posted this as a response on my blog. The dialogue David Warlick and I have going on has been fantastic. I don’t feel this is the end of social networking. Keep the faith we will find a way!
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Will Richardson’s thoughts on DOPA passing are depressing. Moreover, his first paragraph makes me step back and say “Whoa, friend. Back up from the ledge and let’s look at things realistically.” I understand and can empathize with his frustrations being someone who will be directly affected by this bill.
First, this bill, coming up on mid-term elections, was of course going to get fast tracked through the House. Every two years these people are up for re-election and the soccer moms across the country want their kids protected. To vote against this bill would be political suicide. Now, the Senate has more ability to slow this down, but if Republicans need social issues to stand on, this is an easy way to prop poll numbers… and any one who plans to vote against this bill would have hard time explaining why they did as commercials run saying that they denied protections to children. That is the political reality and the way this bill is named is no political mistake.
Second, David Warlick and I have had an excellent dialogue going on about this bill. His concern is centered more in the vagueness of what can be blocked. I agree that the vagueness is a major issue. I would feel more comfortable if Fitzpatrick would come out directly with a list of sites he is looking to have blocked. I know this will be a political football to be tossed around (rest easy knowing that Rupert Murdoch owns myspace.com, and he has a few bucks to pass around on Capitol Hill). My distrust of Big Brother Government was cemented when I read Animal Farm and 1984 as a middle-schooler, so needless to say I am against this bill just on those grounds.
Third, there are loopholes written into the bill that will not completely shutout commercial social networking sites. And commercial is the key word. Nothing is stopping me for setting up a site for my school district to use social technologies in a responsible fashion. Some of the highlights of the bill, according to Michael Fitzpatrick’s website, are:
• H.R. 5319 requires schools that receive Federal Universal Service Funding to prevent the access of children to a chat room or social networking website. Schools may disable protection measures in order to allow use by students with adult supervision for educational purposes, or by adults;
• H.R. 5319 requires libraries that receive Federal Universal Service Funding to prevent the access of children without parental authorization to a chat room or social networking website;
• H.R. 5319 requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a website and issue consumer alerts to inform parents, teachers and school officials about the potential dangers on the Internet, specifically online sexual predators and their ability to contact children through social networking sites and chat rooms.
Acceptable use policies can be adjusted to address this bill. Parental authorization can be granted when they sign the AUP should the need arise. I have stated this already in my blog, but it need restating here:
I think the spirit of the bill is not to stifle legit teaching, but unfettered student access to commercial social sites.
Hey Will,
Thanks for getting the word out on this. This is an unbelievable piece of legislation that screams “we really don’t know what we’re talking about, but it sounds good.”
I’ve started my letter writing campaign. I’m starting with sharing my disappointment with my representatives, then I am moving on to begging my senators not to pass this. I have invited my representative to respond to my letter via my blog. We’ll see what happens. If anyone wants to “steal” parts of this letter, feel free. Just WRITE!
Unfortunately, this conversation is happening within our usual echo chamber. Somehow, this conversation needs to be moved outside of us. Ideas?
http://www.nlcommunities.com/communities/brianmullnl
DOPA will add another string, another reason, for schools and libraries to be wary of accepting Federal dollars from the eRate program. More hoops to jump through, more Government interference, more paperwork, more “auditing” and looking for fraud and violations, more reasons to scare school district administrators etc. Regardless of the in-your-face reasons to save our children from predators, I think an underlying reason (“the spirit of the bill”?) for this legislation is to put more pressure on the eRate program so it will fail as a program for social equity.
We have been hard at work developing online instructional performance software where teachers can collaborate in their planning. Is this off-limits now as well? Wikipedia is social and networked. Is that off-limits? What about doing a forum search on Google Groups.? Uh-oh! Social, networks, kids, PEOPLE, INFORMATION…!!! THE HUMANITY! Unbelievable.
I too am outraged, but offer a different strategy for fighting. The congressmen who voted for this bill (and the senators who are likely to follow) are politicians. They are trying to please the masses of our growing theocracy and don’t want to go on record having voted to allow predators into the classroom. Yes, we need to write to our legislators and educate them. But I think the other, and greater job is to educate the masses of the core values for education of read/write Web. We need to get our work into the news, on the TV, on talk radio, not just in the blogs and podcasts of the world we already comfortably inhabit. We need the “soccer moms†and “church ladies†to share our passion for truly educating our children to be life-long learners and global collaborators. If the power of communication via “social networking†on the Internet is blocked in public libraries and schools our public school children will be further ghettoized, made less ready to participate fully in the conversations that are taking place on the Internet and changing the world. Reading the summary of the bill on http://thomas.loc.gov/ I see that schools will be able to unlock the protection for adults in the school and for students to do work that is supervised. The greater problem lies with libraries. If I ask my students to post to a blog and they need to use the public library, they will have a problem because I can’t imagine public libraries walking around supervising the sites kids are on and the work they are doing on those sites. Still, we need to educate the parents, school administrators, and other teachers through conversations, email, websites and blogs; but do not forget the power of newspapers, television and radio. Let’s get the word out, bring attention to the collaborative world that has become the result of “social networking†tools.
6 Ideas for dealing with DOPA
Can you post a link to see which way each House Reps voted on this bill?