Tensegrities

I can't be the only one who thinks that legislation is very aptly named.

Here is a note I sent to our representative a few days ago, before the DOPA vote...

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To: Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN 4th)
Subject: HR 5319: Please vote AGAINST DOPA
Date: 060726

As a librarian at the University of Minnesota, an information technologist, and a constituent of yours in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood, I felt I needed to write to you asking for your help in defeating HR 5319.

HR 5319 would require that schools and libraries block access to social networking sites in order to qualify for E-rate support. I think the decision of what should be filtered when providing Internet access to members of that community is best made close to home, by those schools and libraries.

Many schools and libraries already filter the net and have the tools they need to filter particular sites they find problematic. But it would be very difficult to force a filtering of all "social networking" sites. What are these sites exactly? Which are the bad ones?

I fear we are overloading the E-rate program with so many requirements that libraries and schools will be discouraged from participating. Maybe that is the point?

I also reject the negative portrayal of the Internet that this bill, as a whole, presents. The Internet is a fantastic resource and we should not be scaring parents and students away from it. Social networking tools are going to change the way research and scholarship are done, and we need our next-generation scholars to understand them, both what they offer and how to avoid the traps they present. The culture of fear being drummed up by Republicans over the past six years is disgusting and, I believe, fundamentally anti-American. We must resist it.

Please vote against HR 5319.

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Unfortunately she, and almost everyone else, voted for DOPA, something like 400-15. I can't believe how mixed up we've become.

...Eric