Congress recently passed, and the President signed, a bill which contains amendments to the original Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requirements.

Specifically, the new law requires schools' Internet Safety Policies to include "... educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response." Essentially this means that schools will now be required to teach online safety to students as a prerequisite to receiving E-rate funding. The language in the new law does not place these same requirements on libraries.

We don't yet know when this new requirement will become effective, if new E-rate certifications will be required, what flexibility schools may have in implementing the new law, etc., but we understand the FCC is now working on such guidance.

In the meantime, E-rate applicants may wish to update their Internet Safety Policies to include provisions related to "...educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response" and to be working on how they plan to teach the online safety courses to students (which includes social networking websites, chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response), if you're not doing so already.

We'll update you as more guidance becomes available.