US law seeks to ban forums, IM and email to under 18's

A Republican congressman in the US is trying to introduce a bill that will ban teens from using teen social sites like MySpace, but will also mean that people under 18 will not be able to visit any other general forums.

The bill, known as the "Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006," was introduced by Michael Fitzpatrick. It has been slammed because it uses extremely broad language to define a "social networking" site. It defines a site as one that "allows users to create Web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users ; and offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, e-mail, or instant messenger."

Read the full story (The Inquirer)