Today In 'MySpace Sucks' - Big Brother Is Censoring You

Social Sites and Blogs Forbidden in US Libraries and Schools

'The preoccupation of US Government for the safety and protection of children is understandable. But when it spreads in areas that are helpful for education, we might have a problem.

The US authorities have ruled that any federal institution which receives money from the E-rate scheme for computers and internet access must install on their networks filters against the free access to social sites and blogs. This means that minors will be allowed to enter this type of sites only under adult supervision.

The measure, included in Deleting Online Predators Act, is aimed at minimizing the pedophiles' easiness to reach the under aged, on popular sites like MySpace.

The Act prohibits the publicly funded bodies to give children access to sites where they might receive "unlawful sexual advances".

In the end, it is the Federal Communications Commission who decides whether the law opposes the First Amendment and which sites are to be considered under the influence of DOPA.

The difficult issue for the Commission is the fact that DOPA suggests that any site which allows users to create a personal profile and sustain a conversation with others is to be considered inappropriate for viewing in libraries and schools.

This means that even famous sites like Amazon or Slashdot, which require some sort of registration, could be banned in state-funded institutions.

'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.'

MySpace boasts today with more than 80 million users [that's almost a third of the U.S. population] and has generated lately a battle between Internet giants for the implementation of a search engine inside it.