Schools blocking MySpace

Adding MySpace.com to their black lists of sites to be blocked is happening in increasing numbers of US school districts Reuters reports. For example, "the Rhode Island Network for Educational Technology, a nonprofit that handles Internet networks for the state's 36 public school districts, said 80% of the schools had requested an Internet filter to screen out MySpace.com," according to Reuters. It adds that "school districts in Florida and several other states and private universities have also installed filters on their Internet networks that block the site." I hope schools know that this might be only part of a solution toward student (and school) protection. Blocking one social-networking site doesn't stop students from moving to others. In its list of such sites, Wikipedia links to nearly four dozen, and it doesn't claim to be comprehensive. BTW, this wire story was picked up by papers all over the world, including The People's Daily in Beijing. The Associated Press reported later this week that 21 students at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa, Calif., were suspended "for allegedly posting graphic threats against a classmate" in MySpace.