Restrictions On Social Sites Proposed In Georgia 349
A state senator in Georgia, Cecil Staton, has introduced a bill that would require parents' permission before kids could sign up at a social networking site such as MySpace and Facebook, and mandate that the sites let parents see all material their kids generate there. Quoting: "[Senate Bill 59] would make it illegal for the owner or operator of a social networking Web site to allow minors to create or maintain a Web page without parental permission [and require] parents or guardians to have access to their children's Web pages at all times. If owners or operators of a company failed to comply with the proposed law, they would be guilty of a misdemeanor on the first offense. A second offense would be a felony and could lead to imprisonment for between one and five years and a fine up to $50,000 or both." The recently offered MySpace parental tools fall short of the bill's requirements. This coverage from the Athens Banner-Herald quotes Facebook's CPO saying that federal law forbids the company to allow anyone but the account creator to access it..
Misquote (Score:2, Informative)
This isn't at all what the article quotes. It says:
Under the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, we cannot give anyone access to or control of an individual's profile on Facebook
I don't see how this would preclude rules that require all future account creations to be done by an adult...
QFT - idiot. (Score:5, Informative)
"Staton said the bill does not tell the companies exactly how to ensure that minors don't log on without parental permission. The companies can figure that out on their own, he said."
There is no real way to do that. Who is liable if the minor works around the security and makes a page? What if said minor created a page and NOTHING happened aside from a parent finding out the page exists? What is an acceptable form of verifying parental consent?
This proposal is a prime example of people who don't know jack about how the technology works trying to legislate it.
Re:why not ban parenthood? (Score:5, Informative)
Choice quote:
Re:Lies, Damned Lies... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Normally I'm on the side of civil liberties... (Score:2, Informative)
"I disagree with what you have to say but will fight to the death to protect your right to say it" - Voltaire.
Myspace might be horrible in your opinion but this is when if you truly believe in freedom of speech you would still support them.
Re:why not ban parenthood? (Score:4, Informative)
Just as a side note, the biggest problem with rooting out or finding child sexual abuse is that children under the age of 10 can be made to say anything if goaded long enough, and eventually they will fabricate elaborate false memories to supplement these statements. If you put any determined adult in a room with any 8-year old, given enough time, they could eventually have that kid saying up was down or Uncle Benny touched him this way or that way, which, ironically, could be classified as abuse. Many law enforcement agencies have done exactly that, because at best the officers or attorneys in question were simply convinced they were right and that the kid had repressed memories or some other such bullshit, and at worst they were corrupt jerks out to catch bad guys - who cares if they have to brainwash a few little shits in order to catch em?
Mind you, I have no special knowledge in this subject beyond some college psychology classes.
Re:As usual...idiots (Score:3, Informative)