Techdirt: House Rushes Through Bill To Make The Web More Dangerous For Kids
I know, it’s amazing.
Rep. John Dingell’s statement is worth repeating: “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.”
Well said. He was speaking of the “Deleting Online Predators Act”, which doesn’t actually seem to delete any predators (Isn’t it nice that they use delete, because that’s an internet word! They’re so clever and hip!), but actually blocks a lot of websites at any school that takes federal money. Because that makes kids safer.
Unless you take away internet access completely, it is possible that online predators will get at kids. You see, the internet is a dynamic, ever-changing thing. This may seem obvious to many of you. To to 410 of the 425 members of the House who voted for this bill, it apparently isn’t. Blocking things on the internet will never work. There will always be something new you have to block, and the people trying to beat the blocks are at least as good as those trying to block them. As Techdirt says, why don’t we try educating people on the potential dangers? Oh, right, that costs money. Stupid bills like this just allow politicians to pretend they care about children.