I was delighted to learn from Mike Lawrence today that CUE (Computer-Using Educators, Inc. based in California) has formally taken a stand against DOPA: the proposed “Deleting Online Predators Act” that passed the US House of Representatives this summer and still waits for consideration by the US Senate. CUE’s statement on DOPA is:
Computer Using Educators (CUE), Inc., a non-profit educational organization representing thousands of educators in California, supports local leadership, not federal intrusion, in determining access to websites for student and teacher use in K-12 schools and libraries. H.R. 5319, more commonly known as the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), seeks to restrict this access further regardless of established local decisions. While the legislation seeks to protect our students from inappropriate content and interactions on the web, which is admirable, it fails to protect students any more than they already are within the established requirements to block inappropriate content. At the same time, this legislation needlessly places restrictions on potentially powerful educational tools.
Further, the legislation does not allow for commercial social networking tools that are already being put to powerful educational uses. By excluding all commercial websites providing such services, this legislation will impact distance learning and other emerging educational tools, which CUE members believe are powerful extensions of classroom learning.
CUE asks its members and partners to contact our U.S. Senators to oppose this legislation.
CUE is proud to join the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the American Library Association (ALA) in opposing this legislation. For more information about CUE�s Legislative Advocacy platform, visit http://www.cue.org/advocacy/.
CUE has included several good links to other articles and resources relating to DOPA on their position statement page.
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On this day..
- The Social Dilemma Documentary and YOUR Social Media Privacy Settings – 2020
- Chance favors the connected mind – 2010
- The Ethic of the Link, Hyperlinked Writing, and Mainstream Media Link Hangups – 2009
- Theater magic in Wamego, Kansas and KSU football – 2008
- Value of blogs and citizen journalism demonstrated in Myanmar – 2007
- Please submit a proposal for K-12 online! – 2006
- Imbee is better than Disney – 2006
- Friending on social networks – 2006
- Education leaders propose more useless and counterproductive ideas – 2006
- Educational technology legal issues – 2005