DOPA

H.R.5749: To amend title 18, United States Code, to protect youth from exploitation by adults using the Internet, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Foley, Mark [FL-16] (introduced 7/10/2006)

... and for his backing of DOPA and other legislation to "protect" minors as Co-Chair of the Missing & Exploited Children’s Caucus ...

The EdTechTalk live webcast #58 on the Blackboard patent and DOPA issues just finished up and I encourage everyone to catch the recording once it is edited and uploaded. The shownotes include a letter from BlackBoard CEO, Michael Chasin submitted in response to EdTechTalk's request for a representative to appear on the show. Martin Dougiamas (from Moodle) joined the conversation to add his thoughts. In addition, a representative from Desire2Learn stopped by to reiterate the company's plans to aggressively fight the Blackboard patent suit.

technorati tags:Blackboard, patent, DOPA, Desire2Learn

The sponsors of Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) - House Bill HR 5319 cite a seemingly staggering statistic. Quoted directly in Findings section of the Act is the statistic from the United States Attorney General that "One in five children has been approached sexually on the Internet." It is right there in black and white printed in House Act HR 5319 RFS. Read any article about DOPA and this is one of the most frequently cited U.S. Department of Justice statistics and apparently key to the arguments in support of DOPA in the House. Stated on a recent ABC News report, the statistic was framed as, "One in five children is now approached by online predators." Make sure to come back to this ABC "quote" after you finish reading the rest of this post.

My husband commented to me last night that I am sounding a little "angry" in my posts of late. Looking over the past month, I haven't contemplated many "ed tech" or "online learning" discoveries. Instead, I have been more than a little preoccupied with the threat that I see to the infrastructure that supports online learning. It has become very difficult for me to get excited about the latest and greatest web based social software for learning if access to it may be restricted or outright blocked for many learners. Instead, I find myself drawn to blog posts and articles that track threats to the open access that online learners (for now) experience. So, until I get "inspired" to once again focus on online instructional design, my posts will be heavily peppered with information designed to inspire political action to protect the backbone of online learning - the Internet. To that end, here are a few blogs and links that have inspired me to action: