Teach42

While doing some searching around for work, I came across a post on the BlogSafety Community forum by Larry Magid entitled Deleting ONline Predators or Deleting Online Teens.

It’s well worth the read.  In a nutshell, Larry points out that while the act is intended to stop online predators, what it’s actually doing is stopping teens from accessing interactive websites in what is often the only supervised place they use the internet; their school.

If children are going to get into trouble online, chances are it won’t
be at school. They’ll be home, they’ll be at a friend’s house or they
could even be completely away from adult supervision using their mobile
phones. Schools and libraries are relatively protected environments
where adults are never far away and, for the most part, computers are in
public locations that make it difficult for users to hide what they’re
doing.

Larry makes some very powerful points about the value of social networking sites as a ‘potential safety valve’. 

I spoke with John
Draper of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, who said that
at-risk kids are increasingly using their online profiles “to in some
ways convey they had suicidal intent.”  Draper said that these sites have “the very real potential for saving
lives because the first people to hear about kids at risk are other
kids.” His organization is setting up profiles on MySpace, Xanga and
Facebook as a resource for teens.

The question is, what about this act actually protects online teens?  It blocks one way that they can access to some sites that predators have used to meet teens.  However, it doesn’t stop teens from accessing those sites, nor does it stop predators from using them.  It’s lip service, through and through. 

If anything, schools and libraries are the sole places that students SHOULD have access to those sites.  Locations where they will have supervision, guidance, and support in their explorations.  Larry sums it up pretty well in his conclusion:

I’m glad Congress is concerned with Internet safety but rather than pass
DOPA, it ought to be funding campaigns to educate children, parents, and
teachers on how to use the Internet safely - while giving the cops and
prosecutors the resources they need to truly delete online predators.

Can I get an amen?

technorati tags:dopa, education, blogging, safety, internet

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