A new act aims to delete the threat.

When a child logs onto the Internet anyone could be lurking around.

By Mara Deutch (Last updated: 08/28/09 6:23pm) Using MySpace.com and other social networking Web sites may no longer be allowed in public schools and libraries if a current act passes Congress.

The Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, or DOPA, would revise the Communications Act of 1934 "to require recipients of universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors from commercial social networking Web sites and chat rooms."

"It's aimed at extending or filtering technology to schools and public libraries so that technology would be in place to prevent accessing social networking sites unless it's for an educational reason," said Jeff Urbanchuk, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who introduced the bill on May 9. " � if a minor wanted to go in to access MySpace in a public library, they would not be able to do so. The filtering technology would be extended to that."

The House bill, which was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, could help prevent online predators from contacting minors. However, minors could still access the sites at home.

"The bill would also require the Federal Trade Commission (to create) a unique Web site specifically as a clearing house of information for parents, teachers and children themselves, to have information on the best way to use social networking sites," Urbanchuk said.

This site would provide information such as what to put on profiles and how to best surf these sites in a way that wouldn't attract a child predator, he said.

MySpace, which declined to comment, has already taken down 2,000 profiles that are considered "obscene," Urbanchuk said.

Most social networking sites already take preventative measures against online predators, including the Web site, Facebook.com.

"We don't think the act is a good idea, nor a well-considered idea, but we don't think it will apply to Facebook," said Chris Kelly, the chief privacy officer of Facebook.com. "The requirement of the .edu (e-mail address) and the implication of that address, and people can only have access to their confirmed friends from their school, so that stops people who can get on the site in the first place. It makes a huge difference in the behavior on that side."

Kelly also said that the law could later be misinterpreted.

"We're concerned that an overly broad law will sort of work itself through the political process and change itself where it would prevent students from expressing themselves online," he said.

But some residents said they feel this bill is important.

"I hope they pass this bill because kids are important," said Lansing resident, May Jutikapukkana. "They are the ones being taken advantage of, especially on MySpace. They put their personal information, and not enough kids know how severe the consequences are."

Sixty percent of teens are active on at least one social networking site, said David Smith, executive director of Mobilizing America's Youth, an organization that dedicates itself to empowering young people to take political action on certain policies that affect them.

"We feel (the bill) is reactive and that it's focusing on the few instances when social networking sites are looked at as a negative thing," Smith said. "We focus on the positive development used through the Web sites."

Most public schools and libraries already regulate and filter what their computer users are viewing on the Internet.

"Our policy pretty much defines the use of the Internet for information and research purposes," said Sylvia Marabate, director of the East Lansing Public Library. "We really try to discourage people from using it for just chat."

Gretchen Couraud, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said the library is paying attention to the progress of the bill.

"There are already laws on the book that require libraries to block obscene and offensive Internet content," Couraud said. "The concern is that the way the bill is written is very broad."

The bill could prohibit minors and even adults from Web sites that are good, such as distance learning chatrooms or tools for kids to learn how to build sites, she said.

"These are the tools that kids need in the 21st century," Couraud said.

Some students say they understand the bill, but feel it's unnecessary.

"I understand what they are saying about banning these things from public places, but they are taking away our freedom," said Langston Whitaker, a junior at East Lansing High School. "We use these to talk to friends and not random strangers. People have enough smarts than to meet up with a sexual predator."

Whitaker also said the bill might have further implications.

"If they block (MySpace), some people do not have phones, and this is their way of communicating with their friends. If you take this away, what's next? Our cell phones? Our text messaging?"

Staff writer Jeffrey Joe Pe-Aguirre contributed to this report.

Mara Deutch can be reached at deutchma@msu.edu.

Originally Published: 06/07/06 12:00am