Call it a lesson for the MySpace generation. Right now, the students at Hunterdon High School in Flemington, New Jersey, rely on the latest in online networking tools. They use blogs for their homework assignments, they discuss essay topics over high-speed internet connections, and in 2002, the author Sue Monk Kidd joined an online forum about the characters in her bestselling book, Bee Season.
But if a bill that just passed the US House of Representatives becomes law, there's a chance these tools could be banned from Hunterdon's classrooms, as it would from any publicly funded school or library in the US.
The law - called the Deleting Online Predators Act (or Dopa) - would prohibit teenagers from using internet tools defined as "social networking sites". If the school or library fails to comply, it will lose its government funding.
Political watchers say the Dopa legislation, currently making its way through the US senate, is the direct result of a larger strategy by Republican politicians here to score points with suburban voters in the run-up to this November's nationwide congressional elections. But critics say it reflects a broader backlash over fears of children communicating in new ways online.
"I think it's an election year tactic for a hot button topic that the media has overblown," says Will Richardson, a former teacher at Hunterdon High School who oversaw the school's move toward online social networking tools in the classroom and who now leads an education consulting firm called Connected Learning. "It would have a real impact on the way I taught my kids."
The bill's backers, which include child advocacy groups, say it is a justified response to a pressing social issue. Republican congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, who is the driving force behind the law, said in a speech that sites like MySpace and Friendster are "a virtual hunting ground for children".
MySpace, which is the main target of the bill, currently has almost 100 million users posting pictures and personal information online, while there are 50 million blogs worldwide, according to the blog-tracking company Technorati.com.
Amid the rhetoric, there is debate about just how real these fears are. A recent study on internet sex crimes by the University of New Hampshire found that one in seven youths received a sexual solicitation online. Another study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found 64 per cent of all teens say that teens do things online that they wouldn't want their parents to know about.
John Sheehan, who runs the Cyber Tipline for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, says parents need to worry about their kids using the internet.
"The internet is like the Wild West and it needs regulation," Sheehan says.
His hotline gets on average 150 calls about online sexual acts a week and he believes a recent decrease in statistics just means predators are "getting smarter".
Proponents of these online tools are sceptical.
"Sure kids run into predators online, but they also do that at the mall and at the park," Richardson adds. "Are we going to say we're not going to allow them to go to the mall anymore?"
Executives from some of the social networking companies say they are doing enough to combat predators without government intervention. MySpace claims it has a strict age verification system and it forbids anyone under 14 years old from signing up. And, earlier this year, the company added a chief security officer to its ranks in an effort to allay the concerns of parents.
Some critics of the legislative response say politicians are taking this action in part because of a disconnect between the generations.
"Parents, teachers, politicians and the public don't know how to deal with the emergence of modern technology," says Carlos Tabora, author of a petition against the law called "Save Your Space".
Tabora is gathering names from across the world to rally opposition and to raise awareness about what he sees are reactionary tactics. "Anything that is enacted in the US will have an impact across the world," he says.
Another criticism of the law is the scope of sites it could target. Depending on how it is enforced, the law could restrict any site that includes a user's personal profile, such as Amazon.com or the video site YouTube.com.
While the politicians and child advocates who support the measure say it's one of the only ways to reign in online sexual predators, others say education is the key.
"This really doesn't make children any safer," says Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association in Washington. "I'm afraid it'll give parents an unreasonable sense of security when they should not feel secure unless their children get an education."
Sheketoff says restricting children's access online could hinder their professional development.
Political observers are unsure if the bill will clear the Senate here and become law. But Richardson says the chances of it passing are likely because politicians don't want to be seen blocking laws that target paedophiles. "How do you say 'I am against deleting online predators'?" he asks.
Whether or not this bill becomes law in the US, educators say the backlash against sex abuse online will continue. And it might take more than education to temper the response, according to Sheketoff. "We're going to have to wait until a whole new generation takes over," she says.
