House rushes to pass anti-social-networking bill

An electronic alert from the American Library Association's Washington Office reports that the House is planning to rush HR 5319, the so-called "Deleting Online Predators Act", through in the next day or two. The ALA alert warns of action to be taken today, July 26. So does Library Journal. Thomas, the Congressional legislative website, indicates that introductory remarks on the bill are scheduled for tomorrow, July 27th. If anyone with more knowledge of Congressional schedule-fiddling can clarify what's going on, I'd appreciate it.

I've written about this particular bill before, but the gist of it is that it would require all schools and libraries that receive any federal E-rate funding to block access to all electronic commercial social-networking sites and chat rooms.

According to the text of the bill, internet services to be banned from affected libraries and schools include:

(J) COMMERCIAL SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES- The term `commercial social networking website' means a commercially operated Internet website that--

i) allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and
(ii) offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.

This is being billed as a way to protect the children from the nefarious influence of sites like MySpace, but as I understand it, it would also ban most online discussion communities such as DailyKos, as well as many other chat, e'mail, and online discussion communities. Beth Yoke, of the ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association, explains (NOTE: pdf file) some of the reasons why this is a bad idea. Other relevant news can be found here, as usual.

I'd love to spend more time commenting on this, but if it's being rushed through the House today or tomorrow, it's imperative that the information gets out before the bill is a fait accompli. Let your Congress critter know what you think.