A bill that would force schools to block social networking sites like MySpace.com and Bebo.com, in order to receive certain federal funds was approved by the House of Representatives.
The bill, H.R. 5319 or the Deleting Online Predators Act, would force public schools and libraries to block chat rooms and other social networking sites in order to receive E-rate funding which was designed to help schools and libraries in poor and rural areas get affordable telecommunications and Internet services through subsidized means.
The program began in 1998 as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. It is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission or FCC, and administered by the private, non-profit group, Universal Service Administrative Co.
The bill is meant to block children from sites that may have online predators and pedophiles, but it also would block sites that allow users to make Web pages such as blogger.com, AOL and scores of other sites.
Under the measure, the FCC would determine which sites can be accessed by schools and libraries around the country.
The Bill now moves on to the Senate.
