Protecting children.
Folks, without a doubt, all of this information that is now being made public shows the power of the Internet on one hand, and the possibility of some negative impact of the Internet on the other! ... let's also extend this discussion to children...
So many of you have made good points about the sorts of risks that children encounter while being on the Internet! I encourage everyone to read your posts! Does this also mean that COPPA laws should not just talk about Internet predators, but also about websites that have inappropriate content? What do we do in those cases with parents who do not adequately regulate the behavior of their children?
Ultimately, what we need to think about is taking advantage of this new medium in the most healthy way possible! While the Internet is incredibly democratic in the amount of information that it can provide, there are a variety of problems also associated with such a democratic medium! What must we do in order to further protect ourselves from the negative impact of the Internet, for example, identity theft, child predators, and so forth? For example, is this entirely up to the parents, or do we need to have more intensive regulatory efforts from our own government?