Web 2.0 versus Congress

A bill has been introduced to compel public schools and libraries to block access to MySpace, according to C|Net.  And now MySpace is fulfilling the role we've been seeing for the past six months, as a growing stand-in for generalized fears about cyberspace.  Because this bill doesn't just target MySpace, but:

Fitzpatrick and fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on Wednesday endorsed new legislation (click here for PDF) that would cordon off access to commercial Web sites that let users create public "Web pages or profiles" and also offer a discussion board, chat room, or e-mail service.

Think about it.  Web services that support user-generated content?  That's, um, social software, or Web 2.0.
Declan goes on to nail it right away:

That's a broad category that covers far more than social-networking sites such as Friendster and Google's Orkut.com. It would also sweep in a wide range of interactive Web sites and services, including Blogger.com, AOL and Yahoo's instant-messaging features, and Microsoft's Xbox 360, which permits in-game chat.

Let's see how long before the major internet themes get slapped together onto MySpace et al: copyright infringement, child/teen sexuality, and terrorism.

(thanks, Brenda!)

Comments

[doug]

Let's see how long before the major internet themes get slapped together onto MySpace et al: copyright infringement, child/teen sexuality, and terrorism.

I doubt it will take long. Drudge usually has an uncanny pulse on where the public is going. I've seen tons of MySpace news items on his front page recently.

Maybe he has a vendetta against anything News Corp owned...but it certainly seems that MySpace is getting some serious backlash in the press recently.