TechCrunch wrote an article about DOPA, a new law proposition passed by the U.S. House, that will require schools and universities to block social websites on their networks and computers.
An incredibly vague law, DOPA will require schools and libraries to block access to a potentially huge range of sites on the Internet. The goal is to protect children from adult predators. Sites that must be blocked include those that allow people to post profiles, include personal information and allow “communication among users.”
You are kidding me, right? “The goal is to protect children from adult predators.” — How dumb can a government be?
To go to war with a country that didn’t attack you, based on fake evidence of chemical weapons, is one stupidity. But taking one or two cases that spilled MySpace onto front page news as sufficient reason to block several generations from participating in the social web movement puts a stick between your own legs. It’s taking the U.S. backwards on the same level with Cuba and China, two other governments desperately trying to hinder their society’s developments by blocking parts of the Internet.
Few people realize how deep mistakes cut into generations of a society, when a government starts blocking the evolution of its own country. If this law passes, and chances are it will, it’s one more example showing how the current U.S. administration is following in McCarthy’s footsteps.
I don’t think they were bad advised by Internet specialists. I think they simply ignored them. What counts is conservative voices supporting the house and making sure money flows. Anything grass roots like the MySpace movement (which was founded commercially but has now gained a life and space in cultural space of its own) is considered a threat.
With a history of bad decisions, it’s not surprising that this government doesn’t realize the long term effects of its actions. But I’m pretty sure they’re fully aware that what they are doing is doing no good to social development. Perhaps that’s the plan after all. Blocking exchange and free thought at its roots, eliminating social connection, anything democratic that isn’t controllable.
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