[Air-l] Deleting Online Predators Act, MySpace and a plea for help

[Lauren M. Squires]

Well put, danah.  I am interested in the fact that this message didn't
inspire any responses to the list or discussion.  Perhaps I've been
out of the loop, but this was the first I'd heard of DOPA - HAVE I
been out of the loop, or has it not been covered very thoroughly? I'm
very curious as to other AoIRer's thoughts about it, if anyone feels
like sharing.

Related, I just heard a story on NPR about high schools in Illinois
starting to police "blog sites," which folks working on
youth/privacy/parenting might find interesting:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/tech/cst-nws-online23.html  I guess the
story broke about a week ago, but I have some summertime news lag.
Apparently only one parent spoke up to protest the schools' decision -
regardless of where one stands on the issue personally, that
singularity seems kind of shocking.

Lauren

On 5/25/06, danah boyd <aoir.z3z at danah.org> wrote:
> Henry Jenkins and i co-authored an interview essay based on questions
> from the MIT News Office to address concerns related to the proposed
> American law entitled Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA).  We
> recognize that parents and legislators are concerned, but we do not
> believe that DOPA is the best approach and we fear that, if
> implemented, it will cause more harm than good.  We conducted this
> interview in the hopes that it provides valuable information for
> parents, legislators and press who are interested in the issue.
>
> http://www.danah.org/papers/MySpaceDOPA.html
>
> I believe that this topic affects our research community as a whole.
> The proposed law affects most Internet communities, including
> chatrooms, mailing lists, photo sharing sites, gaming environments
> and social network sites.  It is also a slippery slope legislative
> piece, working to give American legislators more control over who
> participates online, in what ways and where.  Collectively, we have a
> lot of knowledge about this terrain and the positive aspects of
> digital culture. This needs to be surfaced publicly in order to
> combat the culture of fear.  I know that most of you aren't obsessing
> about MySpace as much as i am, but i believe that what is happening
> with MySpace will affect many of us on this list.
>
> Finally, as researchers, we're often faced with how press cover this
> terrain and we're often asked to speak out as experts.  For better or
> worse, i've become a press puppet on all things MySpace and i'm tired
> of seeing myself in print.  I also believe that there are other
> voices that need to be heard, other relevant academic knowledge that
> needs to be elevated.  I have to imagine that there are other
> academics who could join me in addressing the press and combatting
> the fears the public has over how people use technology.  If you are
> interested in speaking to the press about these issues, please let me
> know.  In particular, i'm especially looking for other researchers
> who have expertise in digital youth, online/offline sociability,
> online dating, risk assessment, reputation costs, gaming, blogging
> and anything else you might be seeing the press cover right now under
> the fear category.  I know that public-facing academic engagement is
> controversial, but i'm definitely in the camp which says, "I am
> obliged to contribute. Silence is complicity" (Diane Bell, "Writing
> in the eye of a storm").  My hope is that others are interested in
> helping combat the fear-mongering with all of the knowledge that we
> have about this domain.
>
> danah
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - -
> "taken out of context i must seem so strange"
>
> musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts
>
>
>
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-- 
lauren m. squires
  lx: http://polyglotconspiracy.net
  cmc: http://sociocmc.blogspot.com