CUE > ISTE/CoSN Joint DOPA Letter to Senators

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Advancing Student Achievement Through Technology

ISTE/CoSN Joint DOPA Letter to Senators

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Dear Senator:
 
On behalf of the tens of thousands of educators who comprise the memberships of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), we write to urge you to oppose passage of H.R. 5319, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA). Specifically, we object to this bill because it would sanction an unnecessary federal intrusion on local school district prerogatives, would block access to valuable online content and valuable learning activities, would prove an administrative nightmare for the FCC, and would chill participation in the E-Rate program. We urge the Senate to consider, instead, supporting Internet safety programs that educate students on how to avoid dangers on the Internet.

The International Society for Technology in Education, a nonprofit membership organization which represent more than 85,000 education technology leaders, provides leadership and service to improve teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. The Consortium for School Networking is the country's premier voice in education technology leadership with a mission to serve as the national organization for K-12 technology leaders (generally called Chief Technology Officers or CTOs) who use technology strategically to ultimately improve teaching and learning.

Our central concern with H.R. 5319 is that it would allow the federal government unprecedented power to dictate to schools and libraries receiving E-Rate discounts which Internet sites students and minor library patrons can access.  It would require schools to certify on their E-Rate applications that they are barring access by minors to commercial social networking websites or chat rooms unless used for an educational purpose with adult supervision. It would bar libraries from allowing minors to access these same sites without parental authorization and notice to parents that sexual predators use such websites to prey on children. With the federal Children’s Internet Protection Act, which requires that all E-Rate applicants block access to inappropriate content, already on the books and many school districts already exercising their right to block access to particular social networking sites, this legislation is wholly unwarranted and unnecessary.

Moreover, CoSN and ISTE feel compelled to point out that the potential for this legislation preventing students from accessing valuable educational resources and activities is very real. We wish to draw your attention to testimony recently provided by an American Library Association representative to the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, which indicates that everything from online school field trips to interactive distance learning courses would be adversely impacted should this bill become law. While we understand that many dangers lurk on the Internet, we do not believe that wholesale blocking of particular types of sites and limiting online educational resources is the appropriate response.

We are also greatly dismayed that H.R. 5319 would leave it up to FCC to define which Internet sites qualify as social networking websites and chat rooms and thus must be blocked by schools and libraries. The FCC has no experience classifying websites and should not be in the business of what amounts to passing judgment on what sites are acceptable for students and library patrons to view. Additionally, we anticipate that empowering the FCC to serve as arbiter of this bill’s provisions will create an immense administrative burden for the agency as it receives countless requests from affected parties to render opinions on whether particular sites qualify as social networking sites or chat rooms.

Finally, we oppose H.R. 5319 because it places still more administrative burdens on program applicants, thereby potentially depressing the interest of schools and libraries in participating in this extremely important program.  DOPA would require: 1) all E-Rate applicants to make another certification on their applicants regarding compliance; 2) all E-Rate applicants to modify their blocking and filtering software to block access to all sites that FCC deems social networking sites or chat rooms and, likely, any sites that schools and libraries believe might be classified in either or both categories; 3) all libraries participating in the E-Rate to seek parental sign-off for their children accessing such sites; 4) all libraries participating in the E-Rate to warn parents of the dangers of such sites; and 5) all schools participating in the E-Rate to provide constant adult supervision for any student that wishes to navigate such sites for educational purposes.

In sum, ISTE and CoSN hold that H.R. 5319’s requirements represent a significant encroachment on local control of school matters, would lead to overblocking of valuable educational content, would undermine the stability of the E-Rate program, and would create a major administrative burden for the agency charged with administering such requirements. We strongly urge you to oppose this legislation.

Sincerely,
                                                                                                                      
Keith Krueger                                                             
CEO of CoSN                                                            

Don Knezek                             
CEO of ISTE
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