DOPA, social networks and keeping young people safe

Over at AoC NILTA, our press release got pushed out today:

UK educators alarmed by DOPA precedent

Online safety secured by education – not blocking and filtering

A leading e-learning body has today (3 August) expressed its alarm at the new U.S. ‘Deleting Online Predators Act’ (DOPA) and warned against the UK adopting similar censorship measures.

The new Act - passed by Congress on 27 July and going forward to the Senate  would require many public internet providers such as libraries and schools to block social networking websites and chat rooms, including sites like Blogger, Flickr, MySpace and Yahoo! Groups.

DOPA is intended to protect minors from online predation but AoC NILTA, the independent voice of the post-16 sector in ICT and e-learning, says that it is a ‘step backwards in social and education terms’ and will not work.

The whole document is here:

Download DOPA.pdf

And the text is also posted over at my blogfolio for people who prefer to avoid PDF/downloads

 

Comments

[Chris Davison]

This is a very balanced post and the points covered are integral to the social networking habits of millions of users world wide. I agree that the Big Brother-esqe control that a number of different agencies attempt to exert on the public merely serve to reduce the effectiveness of online networking as a valuable social tool. I understand the other side of the arguement relating to online 'predators' but I feel that this should be tackled with increased education for the front end users. Putting blockers up will merely push the users to a different PC. As a worker in the elearning sector, I also feel that social networking can reap huge benefits as an educational concept. By sharing and communicating ideas, young people will have a better opportunity to learn from one another and share ideas relating to best practice. Therefore, in my opinion, it should be embraced rather than outlawed. http://taecanet.blogspot.com/

[palmer_eldritch]

Although ostensibly concerned with 'safety', I reckon DOPA and its ilk are more the result of agencies concerned trying to avoid future litigation.

[Emmadw]

I can see what Palmer is saying, I think that in the UK we don't yet have the same sort of litigious climate that has lead to the sort of claims made in the US. Whether they're trying to protect the Goverment, School Districts or My Space from ,a her="http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/20myspace.html"> this sort of claim I'm not sure, but I guess it could be on aspect in the bill, though I suspect that rather like the UK, US Politicans are often older, and not much at ease with technology, so don't really understand the uses it can have - they just see headlines like the one I've posted & leap to the conclusion that a significant % of users aren't who they claim to be.

I'm not sure if you've seen a BBC report, Josie, showing that many UK students already think that teachers control their internet access too much. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5151576.stm