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The definitive guide to US airport wireless connections and free airport wifi
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Archive as of September, 13 2006
Congress targets social-networking sites | CNET News.com
Most of this news piece deals with Congress deliberating about mandating records being stored about users by social networking sites and ISPs. The activity logs are supposed to help counter child pornography/abuse, and terrorism.
A couple of suggestions to counter the child abuse on social networking sites such as Myspace has been offered. However, I do not think that restricting access to such sites in libraries and schools are the answer. It’s is not a solution, it’s a work around that is bound to fail. If people in China can circumvent their national firewall (Golden Shield aka Great Firewall of China), what makes you think that can’t happen in the US? Computer technology enthusiasts hate road blocks like this, and are bound to retaliate.
I see one advantage of logging IP addresses of users during registration, and usage. It can be used to isolate addresses and then cross-reference those addresses to the sexual predators list of addresses. One kink I see in this, is the use of public internet access points, to circumvent this type of snooping.
It is practically impossible to know if the person is lying during registration. If I am mistaken, correct me with a detailed rebuke. It’s as easy for sexual predators to lie about their ages, as it is for a minor to lie about their age. Right now, short of loss of absolute privacy, there is no way to combat this problem comprehensively.
It is not the fault of the social networking sites that some of the users are depraved. One analogy to this issue I can think of are guns and people. Just because there is a massive illegal market for guns doesn’t stop the gun manufactures from selling guns. This is because people with licenses and right to own guns, create the demand. It’s the same case here. People who use the social networking site judiciously and ethically should not be penalized for the actions of depraved individuals. I would be mad if I was blocked from Facebook or Myspace due to the actions of someone else.
Technorati Tags: information, internet, Opinion, Policy, privacy, USA, social networking, myspace, facebook, china
