The Perfect Storm...

[liz_marcs]

Let's see if LJ lets me post this.

I've been involved off and on with fandom since...ooooo...grammar school (that would be pre-teens for you non-U.S. people). I can't say for sure, but definitely almost that long.

And I have to say, before this week the only Perfect Storm I knew about was the one I lived through back in 1991 when the No Name nor'

Comments

[wesleysgirl]

When I saw it hitting my FList this morning I was skeptical at best. It was too vaguely worded, and I couldn't find a source of the rumor. The closest I was able to get was the dreaded, "I have a friend who heard from a friend..."

Yeah, not exactly winning points with me, either.It was a shitty position to be in, I can tell you. People I knew (personally) were saying they'd been told this by an LJ employee, which was far enough from the source to be questionable but close enough to be possible. Did I say nothing and feel guilty later for not passing on (clearly dubious) information if something DID come of it? Did I say something and contribute to what was likely and hopefully nothing but a rumor

[liz_marcs]

See, I don't think it's necessarily wrong to be paranoid about it. Given the atmosphere in the U.S. these days, paranoia strikes me as smart.

Now I can see LJ not wanting to advertise a DDoS attack. The servers are overloaded and they don't want to give anyone ideas. But at the very least they should've said they were having technical difficulties with the servers, rather than the vaguely worded answers we were getting.

And, yeah, you were in a tough place since your sources had currency with you. I don't envy your spot at all. I think most people handled it the best they could (and I put you in this spot), but there was a small subset that were hyperventilating and spinning doomsday scenarios.

But the thing that got me is that people were afraid because too many people opened their mouths on this issue or that and drew attention to what actually are serious issues (even if they're under the guise of fandom). Meanwhile, I'm like, "Duuuuude! Can't you see? Power. That's fucking power."

Hence this post. :-)

[wesleysgirl]

I was in such a hurry to get this comment posted (and not sure it was going to go through) that it's not even accurate. *Rolls eyes at self*

People I knew (personally) were saying they'd been told this by an LJ employee, which was far enough from the source to be questionable but close enough to be possible.

should be

People I knew (personally) were saying that they'd been told this by a friend of an LJ employee (etc)

Which is definitely a slightly different story. I was hearing a variety of things, including that we couldn't post about it publically because the fact that people were locking down their journals "looked bad." Which, yeah, to someone who thinks we're a bunch of pervs, I guess it *could.*

Now I can see LJ not wanting to advertise a DDoS attack. The servers are overloaded and they don't want to give anyone ideas. But at the very least they should've said they were having technical difficulties with the servers, rather than the vaguely worded answers we were getting.Yeah, I've gotten some more clear ideas as to what

[soundingsea]

*applauds*

My congresscritters are hearing from me on Tuesday morning; these proposed laws are ludicrous. Thanks for the reminder that I've got some civic duties need doin'.

[liz_marcs]

You're welcome. ^_^

I have to admit, I wouldn't have thought of this if the recent waves of wank (one after the other) didn't just illustrate the potential that's to be had.

[essene]

I'm all for it! Let's aim and fire! I'm all set to get rowdy over something in this damn country.

Although, I should say that I am all for limiting or banning access to social networking sites at schools. It eats the kids brains and they'll do nothing else if you let them, plus it jams the servers like hell. At home or someplace not school? Okay.

That said, I'm still fuzzy on if all this is rumor or an actuality? I trust the internet as far as I can pick it up and throw it some days...

[liz_marcs]

I can see banning it from computers sitting in the classroom, actually, although I can't see teachers failing to enforce a no-"MySpace" rule in the classroom itself.

School libraries, though? Considering that there are some kids who can't access the Internet any other way, and if they're in the wrong neighborhood with no easily accessible public libraries, I have a much, much harder time accepting that.

My issue is that it's all about access for people who might not otherwise have that access.

I can see room for debate on the school issue, certainly, but I think there's a half-way point here that maybe we should look at, rather than just banning access outright.

[essene]

although I can't see teachers failing to enforce a no-"MySpace" rule in the classroom itself.

Oh, you can try all you like, but unless the district or school has set up some sort of nanny/firewall that won't allow sites like these to open (as mine has) they'll still try, and you know they've tried when you hear the wail of "It won't load MySpace!" even after you've told them NOT to go there. ;-)

I did mis-speak in my haste. I don't think it should be a LAW. A site by site rule, or a district policy, fine--but at some, point we are crossing into censorship (however, you only have to look at the list of banned books to know that this is something the supreme court is already comfortable with our schools doing). There are valuable and educational things to be found in blogs, many of which are hosted on such communities. Much of the problem lies in teaching how to sift the wheat from the chaff and in an era of NCLB? There is no time to spend doing that AND teaching to the test. (Am I hiding my hatred of the current educational

[everenthralledx]

Oh, you can try all you like, but unless the district or school has set up some sort of nanny/firewall that won't allow sites like these to open (as mine has) they'll still try, and you know they've tried when you hear the wail of "It won't load MySpace!" even after you've told them NOT to go there. ;-)

You'll hear that wail for about two days, which is how long it will take the students to find a way to circumvent the firewalls and NetNannies.

[rileysaplank]

How would the "MySpace" law affect users in other countries? Are there any details on whether it's something the sites would have to implement and therefore would have an impact on all it's users or is it something that the end user is going to have to implement and therefore would only affect that one person (or group of people using one computer)?

[liz_marcs]

It wouldn't affect people outside the U.S., not unless they shut down all the U.S.-based social networking sites. In which case, those sites would move off-shore and U.S. based folk would "virtually" move with them.

However, China can control it's off-shore traffic, and the recent Cyberwar between Russia and Estonia shows that a motivated government can shut down off-shore Internet traffic. So moving with the social sites isn't a perfect or bullet-proof option.

[rileysaplank]

And now that I've read the report that you linked to in your post I remember a news report (can't remember the source, or even if it was online or on a TV news report) that MySpace have changed their policy on handing over details of known sex offendors to federal agents, they will now actually hand over the details of these people rather than just removing them from the site. I'm assuming this is in response to this proposed law to try and stop it going through.

[liz_marcs]

I'm not denying that there isn't a problem with predators on the Internet, and I'm not saying that they shouldn't be policed. MySpace, as a corporate entity is handling it the smart way: watching people with an existing history.

Now you can quibble back and force that sometimes the sexual offender laws in the U.S. are applied in stupid ways, but it's at least a yardstick you can use because on the Internet, no one can tell if you're a granny that got nailed for taking pictures of your grandkids taking a bath or a serial kiddy raper.

Where my issue comes in is that this proposal is the absolutely wrong way to go about it.

[septembergrrl]

Linked to this post. I hadn't heard a word about the proposed social networking block, but it's definitely something that frightens me.

It's amazing how many limitations of freedom we can justify as being "for the children."

[liz_marcs]

Remember when the conservative wing in this country would shout about "the nanny state" for any social spending? Where are these people now?

Okay, to be fair, there are plenty of true conservatives (as opposed to neo-cons) still yelling about "a nanny state" with some of these draconian proposals, but now you've got more liberals screaming about it. At long last, the liberal and conservative wing of this country have a common cause.

In either case, I just don't get it. What do they think the kids actually do online? And shouldn't they punishing the actual predators as opposed to the kids?

As always, the thing that trips me up is that it's a proposal to block access that will come down very hard on people who wouldn't otherwise have access to the Internet were it not for libraries or school. That's my big problem right there.

[septembergrrl]

Agreed. It amazes me how quickly people embrace big government when it's big in a way they like.

I'm also not sure any child who wasn't already incredibly vulnerable has ever been OMGSCARREDFORLIFE by being hit on online. I understand some men are aggressive and distasteful about it, and certainly they should be punished. But the computer has an off switch, and I don't understand why the powers that be seem to assume teens can't or won't use it. (I know, blaming the victim.)

And, yes, it would hit students who don't have nice shiny computers at home much, much harder than anyone else, and that really seems to go back to classism.

[chebonne]

What do they think the kids actually do online?

I dunno what it's like over there, but I know kids on MySpace and other sites at sixteen/seventeen years of age who show off their breast implants. In Sweden there's even a site called snyggast.nu where teens can basically vote how sexy/beautiful/cute other teens are. That I can't condone.

But you are right that it shouldn't affect people who doesn't have internet at home - I remember how horrible it was for me in high school, and all I wanted to do was my homework.

As for your post up there? I say give 'em hell.