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July 28, 2006
House Passes Dopey, er, DOPA legislation
In a move designed to demonstrate they are “doing something” about on-line child predators, the House voted Thursday 410-15 to ban Amazon.com from schools and libraries.
Yes, you read that right.
The Delete Online Predators Act (DOPA) will do nothing to deal with the problem on line predation. For example, it has no provisions to encourage education about the risks of disclosing personal information on-line. DOPA orders schools and libraries receiving federal to block Internet access to any site with chat rooms and social networking features.
It is another example of the “if it’s popular and fun, then ban it” mentality toward cable TV, PC and online entertainment and applications that is sweeping Capitol Hill.
Of these social networking sites, MySpace.com has the highest profile, but hundreds of others, including Amazon.com, that offer social networking functions. Heck, as Adam Thierer at the Progress & Freedom Foundation has pointed out, the entire Internet is a social networking site.
TechDirt.com reports Rep. John Dingall (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was one of the 15 House members who realized the sheer uselessness of the bill.
“So now we are on the floor with a piece of legislation poorly thought out, with an abundance of surprises, which carries with it that curious smell of partisanship and panic, but which is not going to address the problems. This is a piece of legislation which is going to be notorious for its ineffectiveness and, of course, for its political benefits to some of the members hereabout,” Dingall told colleagues.
TechDirt further writes:
DOPA…doesn't actually protect children at all. It’s incredibly broad, and would effectively ban things including Amazon.com and LinkedIn from schools -- hardly the places where "online predators" hang out. In fact, one of the bill's sponsors uses Facebook as one of the example sites he's worried about, despite the fact that Facebook is a closed system that you can't just sign up for without a school affiliation. Furthermore, this is a "head in the sand" type bill. Do these politicians really believe that by banning these types of sites at school kids won't use them any more? They'll either get around the filters or will keep using the same sites in other places where they're not under the watchful eye of an adult. In other words, this could make them a lot more vulnerable. Instead of trying to hide these services from kids (only making them more attractive to kids), why not fund better education programs that teach kids (and parents!) about the risks of being online so that those kids know how to deal with things if they are approached by an online predator? Pretending those predators don't exist doesn't protect the kids half as well as simply teaching those kids how to respond to a questionable approach.
Posted by steve.titch at July 28, 2006 03:08 PM
I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.
Comment by: Sten44993 at January 25, 2007 09:03 AM
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Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't been up to much these days. I just don't have much to say right now. I can't be bothered with anything , but whatever.
Comment by: Sten74888 at January 26, 2007 08:11 AM
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I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.
Comment by: Sten54395 at January 26, 2007 09:43 PM
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Not much on my mind lately. My life's been completely boring these days. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. So it goes.
Comment by: Sten99914 at January 26, 2007 10:28 PM
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I feel like a complete blank, but I don't care. Pfft. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten13525 at January 27, 2007 04:01 PM
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I just don't have anything to say right now. I haven't been up to anything recently, but it's not important. I've just been sitting around waiting for something to happen, but shrug.
Comment by: Sten12916 at January 27, 2007 06:33 PM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten30214 at January 27, 2007 11:24 PM
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Comment by: Sten61395 at January 28, 2007 03:54 AM
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My mind is like a bunch of nothing, but I guess it doesn't bother me. I haven't been up to anything recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing to speak of.
Comment by: Sten82211 at January 29, 2007 12:53 AM
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Comment by: Sten71885 at January 29, 2007 05:03 AM
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I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.
Comment by: Sten63971 at January 29, 2007 05:37 AM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten27310 at January 29, 2007 08:22 AM
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Comment by: Sten84573 at January 29, 2007 03:21 PM
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I just don't have anything to say right now. I haven't been up to anything recently, but it's not important. I've just been sitting around waiting for something to happen, but shrug.
Comment by: Sten17341 at January 29, 2007 06:29 PM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
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Comment by: Sten69559 at January 30, 2007 12:21 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. My life's been pretty unremarkable these days. Eh.
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Comment by: Sten45910 at January 30, 2007 01:36 PM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently. I haven't gotten much done recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about.
Comment by: Sten67804 at January 30, 2007 09:20 PM
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I just don't have much to say these days, but so it goes. Today was a total loss. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten94248 at January 30, 2007 09:54 PM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten65480 at January 30, 2007 10:06 PM
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I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten10002 at January 31, 2007 06:55 AM
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Comment by: Sten15210 at January 31, 2007 09:35 AM
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Comment by: Sten29439 at January 31, 2007 03:36 PM
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Comment by: Sten19816 at January 31, 2007 07:35 PM
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Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten93160 at February 1, 2007 12:06 AM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten12444 at February 1, 2007 03:27 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. My life's been pretty unremarkable these days. Eh.
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Comment by: Sten82841 at February 1, 2007 05:22 AM
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Comment by: Sten78291 at February 1, 2007 08:08 AM
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I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen. Whatever. Not much on my mind lately. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten23505 at February 1, 2007 10:04 AM
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I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but I don't care. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten62412 at February 1, 2007 12:17 PM
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Comment by: Sten42339 at February 1, 2007 05:11 PM
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Comment by: Sten57957 at February 1, 2007 09:37 PM
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Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten55284 at February 1, 2007 10:18 PM
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Comment by: Sten57692 at February 2, 2007 01:57 AM
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Not much on my mind lately. My life's been completely boring these days. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. So it goes.
Comment by: Sten2322 at February 2, 2007 03:29 AM
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Comment by: Sten5418 at February 2, 2007 04:38 PM
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I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.
Comment by: Sten58904 at February 2, 2007 08:47 PM
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I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten77603 at February 3, 2007 01:06 AM
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Comment by: Sten27984 at February 3, 2007 12:11 PM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently. I haven't gotten much done recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about.
Comment by: Sten37988 at February 4, 2007 06:39 AM
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Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten11051 at February 4, 2007 11:57 AM
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I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.
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Comment by: Sten3507 at February 5, 2007 12:28 AM
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Comment by: Sten90530 at February 5, 2007 09:52 AM
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I just don't have much to say these days, but so it goes. Today was a total loss. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten10256 at February 5, 2007 03:01 PM
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I feel like a complete blank, but I don't care. Pfft. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten57910 at February 5, 2007 04:11 PM
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Comment by: Sten51867 at February 5, 2007 06:58 PM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
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I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.
Comment by: Sten71921 at February 6, 2007 07:40 AM
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I haven't been up to anything recently, but so it goes. Such is life. What can I say? Pretty much not much exciting going on to speak of. I haven't gotten much done lately, but I don't care.
Comment by: Sten9713 at February 6, 2007 08:19 AM
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