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July 27, 2006
House Overwhelmingly Passes DOPA
Last night, the US House of Representatives passed the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) with an overwhelming majority - so overwhelming, in fact, that only 15 members voted against it. This means that 435 members voted in favor of it - in favor of hysteria, panic, misinformation, while against media literacy, local control, Web 2.0 and common sense. Assuming the Senate passes the act and it gets signed by the president, DOPA would force schools to filter out all interactive websites if they wish to receive federal Internet subsidies. There's a loophole for interactive sites that are educational in nature, but we know how that works - teachers usually don't have control over the Internet filters so they can't unblock sites that are legitimately educational. So every blog, bulletin board, e-list and online community that you currently value in the classroom, be prepared to say bye-bye to it.
I had a feeling the bill would pass the House, but I'm stunned by the overwhelming nature of the majority. It just goes to show you that if you allow news outlets to whip up hysteria over a problem that's actually a small fraction of what it appears to be, Congress is going to find a way to capitalize on it. And our students and teachers will suffer because of it. -andy
Posted by acarvin at July 27, 2006 11:24 AM
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