House Passes Bill Restricting Social-Networking Sites in Libraries

Schools and libraries that rely on e-rate funding would be required to prohibit minors from using chat rooms and social-networking sites like MySpace under legislation passed July 26 by the House of Representatives.

By a 410–15 vote, legislators passed the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) H.R. 5319, despite skepticism from some Democrats that the measure was ineffective, the Internet News Bureau reported July 26.

The intent of the bill is to protect children from sexual predators who use the sites to contact and solicit minors. One of DOPA’s original sponsors, Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), said in the July 27 Cnet online news service that such websites as MySpace and Friendster “have become a haven for online sexual predators who have made these corners of the Web their own virtual hunting ground.”

“I don’t believe it will adequately address these issues,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “It is overly broad, ambiguous, and the e-rate program was not designed to be the cop on the block.” Rep John Dingell (D-Mich.) said during the House debate, “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.” Nonetheless, both Markey and Dingell voted in favor of the bill.

Cnet noted that the bill’s definition of off-limits websites is so broad that it could apply to many commercial services that allow communication among users. The bill requires the Federal Trade Commission to set up a website that includes information on “social networking websites and chat rooms through which personal information about child users of such websites may be accessed by child predators.”

After the House vote, American Library Association President Leslie Burger issued a statement pointing out that libraries are already required to block content that is “harmful to minors” under the Children’s Internet Protection Act. “This unnecessary and overly broad legislation,” she added, “will hinder students’ ability to engage in distance learning and block library computer users from accessing a wide array of essential internet applications including instant messaging, e-mail, wikis, and blogs.”

The measure could go to the Senate for approval in early August.

The 6–3 Supreme Court ruling held that CIPA does not violate the First Amendment because public libraries do not offer Internet access “to create a public forum for Web publishers [but] to facilitate research, learning, and recreational pursuits by furnishing materials of requisite and appropriate quality.” As to filters’ tendency to block constitutionally protected speech, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote that, because CIPA allows librarians to disable a filter “without significant delay on an adult user’s request,” the goal of “protecting young library users from material inappropriate for minors” outweighs any temporary inconvenience to adults.

Example:

Web patron at Reference page.
Requests info through Feedback
To: ref01@gclibrary.org
Cc: ref02@gclibrary.org
Bcc: wiki+ref...

Test code in myip.asp
includes...
from:
to:
cc:
bcc:
Sending to wiki page (this blog page) works.
Would like for receipt of email to result in a blog entry which would, in turn, RSS subscribers.

Example pages:

staff/paul/default.asp
[../../]

menu_1.inc...
if Session("page")...

add Session("Level") global variable

Urgent: get this to Dwight+
http://www.topix.net/content/kri/0400240982109745520133992851522792977955

WYSIWYG editor being used to enter content of first true wiki blog entry by a guest users.

Hello from the World Wide Web! Delete this post.

The support email is support@jot.com and the forum is at http://feedback.jot.com. I am copying Scott McMullan? scott@jot.com on my reply. Scott runs our JDC program.

Regards,
Eugene

Eugene,

Is there someone other than Jim that I should copy in future communications (in case you're out of the office, etc.) - or is there a technical support website, email, or phone system that should be used?

Observations:

Using IE6. When WikiHome is rendered, "More Actions" briefly appears as a drop-down box but quickly transforms into a hotlink that, when clicked, displays a splash-like popup with Page Actions and Administration selections.

The Administration option "Customize Theme" produces <Error: You have specified a form page that doesn't exist>. Selecting "Choose a Form that Exists" and then clicking "Cancel" results in the "Customize Theme Look & Feel" page being displayed. Browser address= http://gclnet.jot.com/System/Pages/CustomizeTheme - editing this page DOES effect colors and custom logo selections.

Links under ToolBar? group "Help Quick Links" generate a new window that's reused if other options from the same group are later accessed. Most options display rather quickly; however, "Developer Info" seems to have trouble launching - and there is no feedback indicating that a page download is occurring, etc. Also, selecting "Wiki Edit Styles" generates an "UnknownError?" page with message <Error: TemplateNodeNotFound?> : I've had no luck getting to this page/feature.

Selecting "Developer Connection" > "WikiZone?" > "JotRedesigns?" and following instructions for installing Diane Soini's Citrus Theme resulted in many hours of Pain. After performing all tasks documented (plus a system restart), the "Theme" didn't change until cached files in IE were deleted - then BOOM, all pages were displayed in Garbled mode. Attempts to get back into the CSS folder failed until finally moving to another computer and gaining access. I later found that deleting Cookies, Files, and History in IE resulted in being able to access CSS from the original computer. Wow - what a Trip!

With a lot of patience and persistence, I was finally able to get the Citrus theme installed; but only to find that it produces some page rendering problems. (1) The ToolBar? panel displays 2x width, occluding main page contents - so it has to be Hidden. (2) Clicking in the main body results in Menu Bar background color turning white and "Edit Page", "Attach", and "Create Page" buttons completely disappearing (on my notebook but not on the desktop).

Default theme has been restored: I'm back to square-one with Interface Customization.

Concerns:

1. Unsure that GCLNET site configuration has proper structure - eg., some pages (like "WikiEditStyles?") can't be found, etc.
2. Also, selecting Administration option "Customize Theme" results in error .
3. Page Layout changes to Wikisite do not to take effect until File and History cache in IE is purged. Must use IE in my environment, other Browsers are not an option.
4. May have damaged critical server-side resources while attempting to install Citrus Theme.