Popularity, Danger of 'Social' Websites Warrants Legislation, Says Congressman
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
May 17, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A new bill in Congress seeks to protect students from sexual predators trying to contact children who use social network websites in schools and libraries. Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick has introduced the Deleting Online Child Predators Act. The bill (HR 5319) would require schools and libraries to institute screening software that would prohibit children from accessing social networking sites like MySpace, Friendster, and Facebook. The Pennsylvania Republican contends the new technology behind such online communities has generated "a feeding ground" for child predators who he says use the sites "as just another way to do our children harm."
Fitzpatrick says there is little reason for a child to be accessing such websites at school.
"Personal information, the schools they go to, their address, the things they like, the ice cream they like to eat, the stores they like to shop in -- all that is out on the Internet and can be accessed by individuals who are clever enough to get into that circle," the first-term lawmaker says. "And essentially what has happened is that these social networking sites have become a 'happy hunting ground' of sorts for child predators."
The bill would also require the Federal Trade Commission to create a website that would give parents, teachers, and school officials information on the dangers of social networking sites and provide tips on how to monitor children's Internet activities. The FTC has already published a list of tips for moms and dads to use when discussing Internet use with their children.
The legislation, Fitzpatrick explains, is a "suburban strategy" to address the growing occurrence of sexual predators contacting young people through these social networking portals. The congressman, who has six children, including three teenage daughters, notes a recent Department of Justice study found that within the last year, one in five children received an unwanted sexual advance while on the Internet.
"This is a problem that's on the rise. It's a problem that's on the rise in part because children are now on the Internet in much greater numbers," he says. "Many children are unattended in the home as well as able to access these sites at school. And I think the number I saw recently is there are about 70 million users of MySpace.com."
Last week a 27-year-old Florida man was charged with attempted sexual battery on a minor, false imprisonment, and battery after he posed on MySpace.com as a 16-year-old girl to lure a 14-year-old boy into forced sex.
"[T]he majority of these networking sites lack proper controls to protect their younger users," the congressman says in a statement. "Also, many parents lack the resources to protect their children from online predators. My legislation seeks to change that."
According to Fitzpatrick's office, MySpace alone has more than 76 million registrants, making it the sixth most popular English language website in the world. But more than 200,000 objective profiles -- many of which contain students' names, photos, schedules, and contact information -- have been removed from the site. Friendster.com claims in excess of 27 million profiles, photos, and blogs. Facebook.com, which is geared toward college-age web users, boasts more than six million U.S. college student accounts and 20,000 new accounts being created daily, says the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
