Monday, February 19th 2007

US Senate aims to ban Wikipedia from schools/libraries

Senator Ted Stevens is working to pass senate bill 49. Senate bill 49's goal is to reduce the seduction and rape of children over the internet. It does this by making access to interactive websites illegal on a school/library network (or at least the ones that get federal internet subsidies). The theory behind this is that interactive sites can be used to seduce children into meeting sex offenders over the internet. Unfortunately, useful sites like Amazon, Wikipedia, and TechPowerUp are considered "interactive", meaning that they would be banned if this bill was passed.
Source: The Inquirer
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45 Comments on US Senate aims to ban Wikipedia from schools/libraries

#26
randomperson21
ex_revenive got my computer at school and i dont have access that way either

im guessing the router/switch has to be set up for my computer to be allowed to communicate on the network.
AAAAAAHH THEY CONTROL EVERYTHING!!!

which is why i run a local proxy out of my computer. ssssh don't tell anyone!
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#27
ex_reven
randomperson21AAAAAAHH THEY CONTROL EVERYTHING!!!

which is why i run a local proxy out of my computer. ssssh don't tell anyone!
you mean THEIR computer :roll:?
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#28
Pinchy
randomperson21AAAAAAHH THEY CONTROL EVERYTHING!!!

which is why i run a local proxy out of my computer. ssssh don't tell anyone!
they only control their network :p

and to get around it, all we need is a teachers password, which we have :D
Posted on Reply
#29
randomperson21
ex_revenyou mean THEIR computer :roll:?
my computer hosts the proxy, i connect to it by typing in an ip (thats not blocked) on the school terminal.
Posted on Reply
#30
randomperson21
Pinchythey only control their network :p

and to get around it, all we need is a teachers password, which we have :D
aah but be careful with that. one of my buddies just got arrested for id theft and computer crime because he got a teachers password by putting a keylogger on his computer. and then upped his grade 30% (not too bright.....).

so hes been expelled.
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#31
ex_reven
randomperson21aah but be careful with that. one of my buddies just got arrested for id theft and computer crime because he got a teachers password by putting a keylogger on his computer. and then upped his grade 30% (not too bright.....).

so hes been expelled.
i dont have her password pinchy
only the login to her internet/emails

so i probably cant login on a computer using it
we could try i guess...

Yeah dont worry random, we arnt so stupid as to do anything with her account (i like her *drools*). The knowledge of a teachers password is for, lets call them recreational purposes
:toast:
Posted on Reply
#32
Pinchy
lmao! im not even talking about hers, i know another teachers

One of the teachers was dumb enough to trust me with the school admin password :p

But ive known that for 2 years now...but as ex_reven said, im not dumb enough to do anything stupid :p

Oh and we didnt use a keylogger, we just saw them enter it in ;)
Posted on Reply
#33
randomperson21
Pinchylmao! im not even talking about hers, i know another teachers

One of the teachers was dumb enough to trust me with the school admin password :p

But ive known that for 2 years now...but as ex_reven said, im not dumb enough to do anything stupid :p

Oh and we didnt use a keylogger, we just saw them enter it in ;)
ha fair game then. keyloggers, i think, are illegal...

we're having a problem at our school w/ admin passwords too (i'm a tech, in case you couldn't tell). all the local administrator passwords for every single terminal is the same. and really easy (can you spell admin backwards?). and its hardwired into the os of every single system. and teachers tell it to students!:slap:

well, any student can no go in and log in as a local administrator. they have no network rights, but with local admin privs, they can seriously mess up the host terminal. then i have to go out and fix (re-image) it. gets irritating..:banghead:

the worst part? we can't change it unless we change the image. and if we change the image, we have to reimage every single one of the 400 computers in the school. and then the server will die....:cry: :cry: :cry:

ok sorry for griping.
Posted on Reply
#36
Lazzer408
Uggg... The "problem" is that it takes 2 incomes to own a house and 2 cars. Who's watching the kids? If parents -could- do there job, as a parent, there kids would be fine. I'm not saying there bad parents it's just that alot of them don't have the time anymore to raise a child properly. I'm a father of 4, 2 are adopted, 2 are mine. Kids just take alot of work and when people are overworked by society it's hard to keep on working when you get home.
Posted on Reply
#37
ex_reven
Lazzer408Uggg... The "problem" is that it takes 2 incomes to own a house and 2 cars. Who's watching the kids? If parents -could- do there job, as a parent, there kids would be fine. I'm not saying there bad parents it's just that alot of them don't have the time anymore to raise a child properly. I'm a father of 4, 2 are adopted, 2 are mine. Kids just take alot of work and when people are overworked by society it's hard to keep on working when you get home.
uh wrong thread dude :p?
Posted on Reply
#38
Lazzer408
ex_revenuh wrong thread dude :p?
"US Senate aims to ban Wikipedia from schools/libraries"

How is that the wrong thread? Have you read some of the posts here? WHY would they ban Wikipedia? To keep children from wandering across inappropriate material? My point, you missed, was if parents kept an eye on there children, the governments' wouldn't have to. It's more profitable for a government to issue a ban on this or that then it is to address the cause. If the children had more of there parents time the government would have less. After all, government is just a business.
Posted on Reply
#39
ex_reven
Lazzer408My point, you missed, was if parents kept an eye on there children, the governments' wouldn't have to
i did read the thread, i just dont understand how its the parents fault for not being able to control what their kids look up on the internet at school/public library where their parents might not be looking right over their shoulder?

i understand that you also mean that parents should know where their children are going when they leave the house, but young kids would more than likely lie, saying they are going to a friends house or something.

It happens alot here, i know heaps of people that say they are going to a mates house, when secretly they are all sneaking out for a smoke/get drunk in a park somewhere...

Being overprotective is sometimes just as bad as not doing anything at all
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#41
tkpenalty
Time to force DDOS attacks gg... TPU is 100% educational (and the hottest girl thread is now gone so they don't have a reason to block it!!!!).
Posted on Reply
#42
SpoonMuffin
zek next time quote the sorce not the inq, they have a horrid reccord for.....well u know FUD.
U.S. senator: It's time to ban Wikipedia in schools, libraries
By Preston Gralla on Wed, 02/14/2007 - 7:08pm

Here's the newest from Sen. Ted Stevens, the man who described the Internet as a series of tubes: It's time for the federal government to ban access to Wikipedia, MySpace, and social networking sites from schools and libraries.

Early in January, Stevens introduced Senate bill 49, which among other things, would require that any school or library that gets federal Internet subsidies would have to block access to interactive Web sites, including social networking sites, and possibly blogs as well. It appears that the definition of those sites is so vague that it could include sites such as Wikipedia, according to commentators. It would certainly ban MySpace.

The bill is, in part, a rehash of a similar bill introduced last year, the Deleting Online Predators Act, also called DOPA. That bill passed the house, but got bogged down in the Senate.

Many people are calling this year's bill "Son of DOPA" because of its similarity to last year's bill.

There are so many things wrong with this bill, it's hard to count them all. But its greatest irony would be banning Wikipedia -- perhaps the most widely used reference resource in the world -- from libraries and schools. I have plenty of problems with Wikipedia, including how easily it can be manipulated, and the way that student rely on it far too heavily. But ban an educational resource merely because it's interactive? If true, it's bizarre beyond comprehension.

It's easy to characterize Stevens as little more than a buffoon. He's certainly a buffoon, but he's a dangerous one. A law like his passed the House of Representatives last year. We're coming up to a presidential election, which always unleashes a kind of madness among candidates, especially when it concerns anything to do with children. So don't count this law out.
www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/4598

wonder what this would do to classes like my comp class where we had to research blogs,wikis and other interactive internet communication forms then wright a report on them comparig at least 3 diffrent forms of online communication.

my advice is everybody whos intrested in this kind of stuff join www.eff.org/ and get acctive, they are GREAT and acctualy fight for out digital rightes!!!!!

this includes you people abroad/outside the usa, because if it happens here its gonna impact you eventulay as well.
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#43
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
cant...help...self...must....say...

ITS NOT A BIG TRUCK!!!!!!!! ITS A SERIES OF TUBES!!!!

check the link for proof.

lovenet.ytmnd.com/
Posted on Reply
#44
SpoonMuffin
lol@easy's link


i got a law that i think needs passed.

if you dont understand a subject you cant vote on it.

if ur not part of the "net generation" you cant vote on "net related laws"

who wants some 70yo MORON making dessitions about how they can use something he clearly dosnt have a fuking clue about?

and could somebody save the audio from that site and send it to me or post it, i want it for an email but cant seem to find a way to save it(cant find my webpage extractor)
Posted on Reply
#45
Wile E
Power User
SpoonMuffinand could somebody save the audio from that site and send it to me or post it, i want it for an email but cant seem to find a way to save it(cant find my webpage extractor)
Just use Firefox, and hit Ctrl+S. It will save the page as an html files and a folde with the same name. Look in the folder, your wav is there.
Posted on Reply
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