The problem is that teens post inappropriate content to places like MySpace. DOPA doesn’t do anything to stop that behavior, so it doesn’t solve the problem.

Even if my students are using MySpace to an educational end, it doesn’t belong? What about my use of Blogger? Amazon? del.icio.us? What is it about MySpace that’s so inappropriate for children? All the things you object to on MySpace, are they unique to MySpace or do they exist in other locations, too? Pedophiles, foul language, sexual imagery, all those things are a stone’s-throw away for just about anyone with or without a computer. Should we legislate that inappropriate material no matter where it is? 35-year-old guys raising an eyebrow at a 17-year-old at the mall? Student language across campus? TV shows and movies (ratings systems are different than an outright ban on viewing)?

Unsupervised? No, not at first and certainly not before high school. If that’s all the concern here, there’s a much smarter way of addressing it. DOPA is not written with supervision in mind. Rather, it’s written in such a way that it simply blocks sites. End of discussion.

Violating TOS is a problem that the MySpace community needs to address and that’s another place pressure should be applied. If it’s a TOS, but nothing happens when it’s violated, what’s the point?

Who is anyone to make a blanket statement of what does or does not belong in the classroom? Just because you or I can’t think of a way for it to be used educationally does not mean that such a way doesn’t exist. What if a teacher out there thinks of a great way to use MySpace, like creating a profile and account for an author or a character from a novel being read? I want to take advantage of the books section of the MySpace, but you’re saying that I can’t? You’re saying that I don’t have the ability to educate my students on how to use it correctly? You’re saying that students should walk out of high school without a clue of what these sites are? Don’t you see that ignorance puts our kids behind the rest of the world?

Some of my students last year, for our final on Siddhartha, created a modern version of Siddhartha’s story and turned it into a series of Blog entries told from Siddhartha’s point of view. The project was due before they had the chance to create accounts for other characters from the novel to leave comments on Siddhartha’s postings, but that was their plan. What if they leave high school and take that kind of thinking with them to their first job?

DOPA prevents that kind of thinking from ever taking place in the youth of America, when that’s exactly the type of thinking we should be doing everything within our powers to encourage.

As it is, despite my best-reasoned and passionate pleas for it, my district office doesn’t allow any school Web site to have a contact form. They cite concern/fear of misuse and threats sent by malicious users. There’s no law surrounding contact forms. If I can’t get a contact form through in 2 years of wrangling for it, how effective do you think my arguments will be for lifting the federal ban on a site because I can defend its application in my classroom?

There are provisions for such things, yes, but most district offices are ignorant, prefer to be that way, and wouldn’t want to risk the loss of a single cent. Most district offices will take the path of least resistance and that’s something a federal law should take into account; if they are going to stick their noses in, they should stick them in all the way and find out what really goes on. That’s why this bill is so damaging to what we do in the classroom. Please understand that these sites, when applied educationally, are the most effective way of keeping kids involved with school. Without them, the curriculum is outdated and the kids know it. Further, without those sites in the classroom, school is close to irrelevant and out of touch.