Ted Stevens and other US politicians may want to block MySpace in schools and libraries, but blocking social sites isn't just a US phenomenon. In an amusing story that's buzzing around the Australian newspapers today (and a few US outlets), the Australian state of Victoria has banned YouTube in schools.
Victoria is Australia's second most populous state, with around 5 million residents. They've decided to ban YouTube - yes, YouTube specifically - in 1,600 government-owned schools after a "degrading attack" on a 17-year-old girl in Melbourne was posted to the site by male students. However, a minister also said that other video sharing sites would probably be included. At first it sounds like a fairly reasonable thing to do: there aren't many good reasons to have access to YouTube in schools, unless you're studying for a media-related topic, viewing political speeches for your politics class or looking for war footage for your history class (come to think of it, those are actually some pretty good reasons!).