Congress to Censor Hip Forums!!!

Bottom line on any censorship is there will always be ways around the system and the more you tighten your grasp on people the more they will slip through your fingers. Hackers and Pirateers are 100 yards ahead of any geek at Microsoft.

 

They are not trieing to protect or secure anything, there just "doing something" about a well advertised issue to get realected. SOmewhere along the line when they roll up there sleaves and look at the "problem" they will see that there are no open content forums that do not have the same content, then what? will they call the internet r rated and let no kids on? of course not, theres to much cash being generated and they cant go around pissing off big money campain contributers.
will restricting the kids who's family cant afford the net help anything? of course not, these physcos who pray on children are just that, physcos, and they will simply go elsewhere and do there phsyco thing. Taking away a childs avenue of expressing there individuality will bring more harm than good
You would think you could just point out to these yuppie book burners the error of there ways and they would say "oh i never thought of it like that" but thats not the case, they go all religous on stuff like that and will not admit they are wrong come hell or high water.
Its realy all bullshit anyway, there are already content rateings and ways to block them out and as long as sites like my space stay within these guidlines they will have the right to sue the goverment for unfair buisness restrictions. The politions are of course fully aware of this and when the media gets bored with the issue they will move on to some other lame evidence that they are "getting things done" and laugh at how easily manipulated there voters are
and as far as the closed minded and judgmentle " i hate americans" comment from those who only know whats going on in the world from our news broadcast, and are lucky to even find a computer in the library, its simply the price we pay for giving the people a voice. Its a trade off for a society that gave birth to the ever enduring hippy movement and spread those ideals across the world.

 

That's the truth. The Republicans say they're against "big government"-when should I stop laughing? The government now has people online pretending to be whatever, and entrapping people, and then labelling them predators. It's just more police state tactics. Instead of doing legitimate things to protect people, the government just wants you shaking in your boots wondering what the fuck they're gonna do next, like any other fascist dictatorship. Screw the government.

 

Before it starts...

the democrats are no different.

 

Yea, they're not much different, that's for sure. Maybe just a little less hypocrytical. They at least don't CLAIM to be against big government-it's the Republicans that make that claim.

 

I always thought it was the democrates who where against a big upper goverment. shows how much attention i pay to stuff like that, hell i dont even vote becouse i dont want to encurage them

 

Neither do I, most of the time-it does very little good anyway. Besides, about this Internet regulation issue, it's going to do absolutely no good to write your congressman, crap like that. The only thing they'll worry about is if there's a massive protest about it, and if they have to worry about getting re-elected if they vote for the bill. That's NOT gonna happen.

 

whats the point Skip? i meen just look at the immagration issue, has anyone brought up the fact that all they have to do is make it a crime to hire them? its all just a smoke screen and we dont get to vote on stuff like that most of the time anyway

 

Dde, not cool. Free speech is our birthright. Especially stuck in a materialistic catholic all-girls school and a pro-war conservative family, I need these boards to, one, express the anti-war beliefs I can't express at home and school, and to forget that it's 2006. I hate the law. It's a bummer.

 

the average joe likes being kicked in the face any way, i'm amazed that the government is even wasting its time with this, most people are so brainwashed anyway taking another human right from them isn't really going to matter.

 

Unfortunately, this is completely true.

 

Hold on one minute. I'm not attacking this site in the least. All I am saying is that there is information and topics on this site that are not suitable for minors and adolescents. And as far as Myspace and Facebook, well that really is a predetors dream. There isn't necessarily information on those sites that is harmful, but it may be harmful exposing all your personal information publicly.

You are absolutely right. Parents and schools should be teaching children the dangers of online predators. This should be taught at a very young age.

Here is some information that I learned when I was a teenager. I researched how to make methanphetamine on a public school computer. I did not know what meth was or how to make it until I looked it up online at school and found out how cheap and simple it was to make. It was just that easy. And this was many years ago before meth really hit the mainstream. Where would I be now if I would have taken it one step further and taken some red phosphorus out of the chemistry lab and started my own lab. Would I be a user? A pusher? Would all my friends be doing it? Would I have gotten caught and put in jail? Either way you look at it, it more than likely would not have been a positive path for a teenager to take. Now at the time I did not have internet at my house, and if I did, my parents would have monitored what content I was viewing. So this is a prime example of how I accessed potentially very harmful information at a public school whose responsibility it is to keep me safe while I am in their presence.

As far as 14 year olds recognizing a molester... Do you actually know how most rapes are initiated? Usually the attacker gains the trust of the target and when the target isn't comfortable with the aggressive advances, the attacker takes what he wants. We all know young girls are impressionable and when their hormones are cooking how they look for men to comfort them and love them (us guys know this from the "how to score with women" handbook). You cannot expect young women to presume every male they meet in their life is a threat. It is very easy to sound like a loving, caring human being from behind a computer screen. All it takes is the initiative. "Hey, I love talking to you online, would you like to meet me in person to talk?" AKA, wanna meet so I can rape you?

I don't care what country you live in. Any sane person would not want their young son or daughter reading about how much fun it is to do drugs and how to get fucked in the ass properly. That being said. That information is fabulous for an adult to be able to access. I have absolutely no problem with that. As a future parent who will inform my children when of age, and be aware of what they are accessing in my house, I would expect the school that I trust to take care of my children, also be aware of what they are looking up and prevent them from accessing information that I deem inappropriate.

Morality isn't cultural and it doesn't have boundaries. I would like to hear anybody here say that they would be comfortable with their children meeting 40-50 year old child molestors, rapists, murderers, and kidnappers on the internet while they are at school. There is absolutely no doubt that these are the type of people that are on Myspace. Or who would want their children reading about who likes to suck their dogs dick or how many dicks have they had in their ass. It is very unfortunate that we have to worry about things like this, but it is reality. This shit is happening and there are young children that are being solicited online. The internet is an excellent tool and method for people to communicate and transact, but it is also a dangerous thing.

Nobody is saying that these sites cannot exist. They are saying that children should not be able to access potentially dangerous internet sites while at a public school that has an obilgation to protect them. I do not see why this is so hard for people to understand. This is coming from my own personal experiences and lessons in life. I grew up in the internet generation. I remember first accessing the internet and being amazed at what is online. I am still amazed today. Anything and everything you would ever want to know or see is on the internet. That is a great thing. We just need to make sure that it is being used responsibly. We all know what is available online and we all need to use a little common sense when it comes to the ease of accessability.

 

the key is education,not censorship.
kids are gonna find out about harmfull stuff anyway.
if you don't inform and educate them,they won't be safer,just more vulnerable/naive.

 

well put

wish i coulda bought a chunk of myspace before this started.
spent a while yesterday on there putting things i knew about people on the search, see who had a space and what there log said. found one person from the forums, and one i havent talked to in ten years.
must piss alot of the dating sites off since its free

 

Eh. I'm homeschooled anyway

 

This administration, as well as wackiraqi, has bought into the "(some) information should be kept from people."

Reading Sherlock Holmes turned me into neither a murderer or a detective.

Reading the Anarchist Cookbook as a teen, did not convert me to violent revolution. (but it is nice to know how to make a safe Molotov coctail should the need arise.)

Reading about sex does not make anyone pregnant or give anyone an STD.

Controling the flow of information is what this bill is about. Ostensibly, they want information about minors not to flow towards child molesters. They are willing to restrict the flow of information to minors in order to achieve that end. (Hmmm...there must be a variant of "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." that means "restrict the perverts not the children" , I just cant think of it at the moment.)

Don't worry, information always gets through. Perhaps not always accuratly, but it gets through.

On the other hand, perhaps it would be wise to outlaw candy, so kids won't take it from strangers.

 

You all are acting like the gov't is trying to make this website completely illegal. It's school and libraries, where it is to get information. I completely see why they are doing this. If the kids can't get on distracting websites, they are more likely to do work.

 

umm.. can you seriously not read between the lines? what you're proposing, sounds more like China to me. This is supposed to be a democracy I do believe? and it shall return to one.. just as soon as bush is kicked out of office.