When searching for answers to sudden questions, Wikipedia can be a quick fix. But according to one senator, this doesn’t make up for the fact that it can be a dangerous playground for children.
UCLA alumnus Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, issued Senate Bill 49 in early January, also called the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, which would place restrictions in public schools and libraries upon any Web site that “enables communication among users,” which, in addition to social networking sites, loosely includes others such as Wikipedia.
This means that while many college students rely on the online encyclopedia site for preliminary research or studying, they could lose this resource on the off chance that someone would use it to cruise for kids.
But we find it hard to believe that any 12-year-old would fall for a “Meet me at my house because I have candy” entry on everyone’s favorite user-edited online encyclopedia.
We understand the importance of protecting children from the dangers of the Internet.
In Stevens’ case, he seems to be most concerned about sexual predators reaching children.
And there is certainly a chance for a child to find inappropriate material online, or have hurtful or dangerous conversations with someone on the other side of the screen.
While parents and schools should be aware of what kids are doing online, placing a blanket public-block over an important source of information misdirects this responsibility by punishing the general public.
Some may argue that losing Wikipedia is no great loss because it is not a legitimate source of information.
And while we cannot reasonably advocate using the Web site as a source of solid facts for a college paper or a midterm, Wikipedia’s system of public editing should still give users a reasonable start to whatever information search they are beginning.
The bill’s major problem is that it places a blanket ban on every Web site that allows interaction, including all message boards, wikis and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
While some of these sites are more prone to inappropriate uses for a child, the case of Wikipedia should make everyone realize that Stevens’ bill is out of touch with the latest stage of the Internet generation.
To put a plug on our ability to communicate with one another takes away what makes the Internet so valuable ““ its interactivity.
Before Stevens can actually block us from using these sites in public spaces, he should realize that a huge amount of sites have a chance for users to talk back and forth with one another in positive and productive ways, whether on a message board or by fixing up a wiki entry.
This level of interaction is what draws us to the Internet now, and to take that away could leave those computers in Powell Library nearly useless to the casual user.
If the Senate is even going to consider a bill like this, it should at least take the time to loosen the reins on relatively harmless Web sites such as Wikipedia, before the rest of the population loses connection with technology.