Ask yourself if you want the United States of America â€" the land of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness â€" to be compared to the United Arab Emirates where social networking is banned due to a UAE-controlled monopoly over providing internet service. Or to Tunisia where citizens are arrested for online activism.
Let me be bold: If social networking is banned, the United States will face a public relations nightmare. Read on...
Three reasons why the American government wants to ban social networking:
- Social networking enables sexual predators to stalk children across cyberspace. Legislators are collaborating with law enforcement officials to enforce actions in public libraries and schools.
There is no denial that online communities are safe havens for adults to find naive victims and may be distribution rings for child pornography, but the government should not be playing the role of teacher, librarian, and parent. - Social networking strains server bandwidth and presents operational risks for military websites, including the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, which require lightning-speed algorithmic capabilities to combat the war on terrorism and other matters domestically and abroad.
With millions of dollars (billions?) appropriated for military operations that require technological resourcing, shouldn't funds be invested into sprucing up the tech infrastructure? This could be easily provided by way of boosting internet security to protect against cyberwarfare. - Social networking on the job decreases workplace productivity and employee morale, insist rhetoric from government agencies and corporate employers.
Here is a statement from the General Services Administration on social networking.
Do you want Uncle Sam playing Big Brother to your Child?
More specifically, do you want an Illinois Congressman to suggest the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission play parental guardian to your kid? Because that's the essence of regulatory legislation sponsored by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) who is reviving his Deleting Online Predators Act aimed at requiring parental permission for children who use public library or school computers.
Reacting to Kirk speaking to reporters and citizens in Mt. Prospect, Ill. about a sting using a fictitious 15-year-old girl entering a "virtual world" called Second Life, the local paper provides pictures and local commentary on the real deal.
Opponents include the Young Adult Library Service Association, more than half of teenagers online, and the U.S. Supreme Court (by way of rejecting the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and via the 3rd circuit Court of Appeals' ruling last month that the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 was also unconstitutional).
My bet is DOPA will follow COPA into a legislative or judicial defeat.
Oh, and don't forget about Missouri state legislator Jane Cunningham who wants to ban teacher-student social networking relationships. There's another jab at government telling a teacher how to act in the classroom.
Shall I go on?
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