I’m told BDBO is already banned in China. If this bill passes the US Senate and the FCC regulates social networking sites, this blog is potentially inaccessible to my friend’s kids in the US if they use a public computer…

The Deleting Online Predators Act:

The DOPA Act was introduced into the US legislative system by Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick. It passed 410 votes to 15 in a vote on 26 July.

Speaking before the vote was taken, he said: “The social networking sites have become, in a sense, a happy hunting ground for child predators.”

The act covers federal institutions that received funding for computers and net access via the US E-Rate scheme - primarily schools and libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) estimates that two-thirds of US libraries receive this funding.

It requires these organisations to put in place filters to stop children viewing social networking sites where they might be subject to “unlawful sexual advances”.

Children will only be allowed to use the social networking sites if adults are present.Social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Friendster and many others count large numbers of children among their users.

In both the UK and US many schools have already banned pupils from using these networks over fears that the children are taking risks with the amount of information they are posting.

The US has the Children’s Internet Protection Act.  It’s an election year, if politicians don’t vote for legislation with a title containing words like ’Online Predators’ are they perceived as pro-paedophile?

The ban is not aimed at particular sites, but defines the kind of sites the Federal Communications Commission would be obliged to ban as: commercial entities that permit users to create online profiles with highly personal information and their own online journal, and which enable communication among users.

Opponents of the bill say it casts the net too wide and could cut young people off from a huge range of websites. There are thought to be as many as 300 social networking sites that could fit the law’s description and more than half of all Americans between 13 and 17 belong to at least one.

“We think it is a very unwise bill,” said Rick Weingarten, director of information technology at the American Library Association. “The definition that they tried to cobble together covers an enormous range of very beneficial applications. By blocking access to those applications only in libraries and schools what they have done is to block access to those kids who have no other way to get access.”

He added: “People join these virtual groups for all sorts of beneficial reasons, including getting information or joining support groups … You get in a morass every time you try to block technology.”