House votes 410-15 to require that "chat rooms" and "social networding sites" be rendered inaccessible to minors on public terminals. Adults will have to "ask permission" to access such sites in schools and libraries. Such sites can include any site that lets users create a publicly viewable profile of personal information, including MySpace (probably the intended consequence), Amazon.com, LinkedIn, and some news sites and blogs. The bill gives the FCC the authority to determine which sites meet the criteria, and includes some guidance, but otherwise uses an exceptionally broad definition for "social networking sites."
July 31, 2006