Between the U.S. House defeat of COPE Net Neutrality provisions and their recent 410 – 15 passage of DOPA, I am really beginning to question my online learning aspirations. Is it as dire as some predict? Are we headed straight for the Internet Dark Ages?
I didn't fully grasp the twisted mindset on the DOPA issue until I read the text of the DOPA House Bill – Warning! Like hearing Senator Stevens' explanation of the Internet, it is painful to read how our elected officials define and characterize the Internet resources that I rely on daily in my online learning interactions. With a sweeping broad brush, they condemn all commercial social networking websites and chat rooms. Setting aside the fact that Congress makes a distinction between "commercial" and "noncommercial" sites (I guess predators are repelled by "noncommercial" sites?), I am dumbfounded that the drafters of the Bill selected the word "trendy" as the best choice to negatively portray the image of chat rooms and social networking sites. Oooo! Watch out! You are reading this blog on a "trendy" Drupal social networking site . . . how scary . . . Lindsay Lohan may be logged on, too. Oh, wait, no worries . . . this is a "noncommercial" site . . . but, if I run banner ads? . . . Thank goodness Congress is there to burn our online wiki books, toss the baby out with the bath water and protect us from all this Internet madness . . .
technorati tags:DOPA
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