US Senate aims to ban Wikipedia from schools/libraries

[zekrahminator]

Senator Ted Stevens is working to pass senate bill 49. Senate bill 49's goal is to reduce the seduction and rape of children over the internet. It does this by making access to interactive websites illegal on a school/library network (or at least the ones that get federal internet subsidies). The theory behind this is that interactive sites can be used to seduce children into meeting sex offenders over the internet. Unfortunately, useful sites like Amazon, Wikipedia, and TechPowerUp are considered "interactive", meaning that they would be banned if this bill was passed.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[DMSMac_Consult]

I can't understand something this complex... can someone reexplain it, in plain English, perhaps in metaphors involving tubes and dump trucks?

 

[zekrahminator]

Wikipedia, a tube of knowledge, is going for a ride on the big mean US Senate's dump truck to the landfill, unless you're surfing the interweb at home .

 

[Tearathal]

hahaha zek, big mean us senates dumptruck

 

[DMSMac_Consult]

Wow... you did it and you did it with style. That was sweet, zek Bravo!

 

[J0N]

Banning websites? PC gone mad I think! Whats the next step? Banning all adults from libaries? Setting up 10 mile perimaters around schools?! Absolute madness.

 

[DMSMac_Consult]

In all seriousness... it's amazing to me how the US government, among others, are promoting technology over parenting and guidance. Instead of VChips and ratings boards and Parental Controls and laws like these, how about parents and teachers actually watch and keep track of the younglings they're charged with?

At what point does adult responsibility become a factor in protecting and guiding children down the right path?

 

[zekrahminator]

Agreed, you made them you take care of them .

 

[Fleekar]

Wikipedia doesnt deserve this. It is well known and credited for its database. Love that place when I'm curious about things or am unfamiliar with abbreviations that I've never seen, etc.

Seduction and rape... man kids are asking for it these days. Then parents go and sue the sites when THEY were the ones who didn't monitor their children and allowed them to surf so freely?
This reminds me of parents suing the food industry. Take responsibility for your neglect :shadedshu

Edit: It's also amazing how teachers give us so many opportunities to use the computers and do as we please with bypassing. When you run a class of 30+ students with 30+ computers with internet access, give them an assignment, and sit on your ass expecting it to be done, how could you expect students to stay focused without your supervision?

 

[WarEagleAU]

So basically, its like BlackICE firewall. Pretty much blocking you from the world...nothing going out and nothing getting in, except what I call "barney" sites.

 

[J0N]

Could this be the beginnings of America turning into China MkII?

 

[spectre440]

i keep finding myself saying this every time i read responses to what someone posts after he read something on theINQ...

much like you wouldn't blindly believe everything you read in some cheesy supermarket tabloid, DON'T blindly believe everything you read on theINQ.

but if this does have some element of truth in it, then its gotta be one of the freakin' stupidest decisions EVER made by US lawmakers....

 

[C.Ash]

The US senate doesnt even know what the Internet is.

And their problem is that they dont THINK. They always come up with the stupidest way to combat a problem. So I say - why the fuck are they in charge? Uh.. Dr. Bush, same question.

This is stupid also because:

- How are kids going to get.. raped? by using the internet? Wait, what?
- If u dont want kids to be raped just dont let them meet with the people who they have talked to.
- If u dont want kids to talk to strangers over the net, tell them not to.

They might aswell not let them learn how to read because if they know how to read it may put them in some kind of danger at some point in their lives. They have no idea how to protect something.. maybe filling it with fear will work like it does with the US populas.

 

[Protius]

No wikipedia at school?!?!? i'm gona go crazy

 

[Scavar]

I have a better idea then all of that. For every child out their under the age of 21, you install a little device in their brain. Everytime they do something that a board of 100000s men over the age of 70 decide is bad, you get shocked into within an inch of your life, and you lose your memory for 2months.

I think that would work well? Even better if it happens while on a dump truck with tubes coming out from it.

 

[C.Ash]

Like marijuana? LSD? Abortion?

are those examples of fear?

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Some senators are completely bonkers. For the sake of society, they should be locked up.

 

[randomperson21]

thats terrible. just terrible. what ever happened to "information was meant to be free?"

 

[newtekie1]

Yep, banning websites in schools, that will stop kids from meeting sex offenders. I have a better idea though. Why not just actually teach kids how not to meet rapists and pedofiles on the internet. I know, teaching kids in school, it is a rarity, but occasionaly it does work.

 

[anticlutch]

Examples of things that are made to be feared.

This is totally pointless, how the hell could you get raped via. amazon and the Wiki.




Besides kids are obsessed with sex and shit anyway. Getting raped is just like sex. See kids, this is an anus...

It's not rape, it's suprise sex!!!



Well I wouldn't expect anything better... these are the types of people who think that video game violence is the sole cause of high school shootings, you know. Honestly, if they ban Wikipedia, I'll just use a proxy. If they ban the proxy (my school already has... you can't even google for the word "proxy")... I'll just bring my own laptop and use it.

 

[ex_reven]

Omg thats bullcrap

the only good senator is a car-less senator

for those of us who have seen triple xXx
"Senator Hotchkiss! Yes! Somebody just stole my Car!!!"
*Corvette plunges into a ravine*

I certainly hope someone creates a website that teaches every young student in america to learn how to circumvent this system.

And Zek, loved the analogy

 

[tkpenalty]

TPU is already banned on Australian forums FUCKING HELL.

 

[ex_reven]

its not banned by our schools "myinternet" connection
and myinternet is used by the Catholic Education Office, so HEEEAPS of schools would use it

bad luck tk

 

[Pinchy]

our network crashed one day, and all sites are now avaliable again

Now its only our school administrator that controls blocked sites

 

[randomperson21]

It's not rape, it's suprise sex!!!



Well I wouldn't expect anything better... these are the types of people who think that video game violence is the sole cause of high school shootings, you know. Honestly, if they ban Wikipedia, I'll just use a proxy. If they ban the proxy (my school already has... you can't even google for the word "proxy")... I'll just bring my own laptop and use it.

ha!

unfortunately, at my school, even bringing a laptop won't work. all site blocking is essentially done by the district, which is a shame. essentially, the district has a huge-arse t3 pipe coming in, and its split between 5 or so schools thru fiber, and then branches off thru ethernet to individual terminals. BUT... since all the net comes in thru district, they have complete control over everything that comes in and out. which is a shame.... even if i log on with my laptop to the unencrypted wifi, i can't get to blocked items. bah!