A new bill in Missouri effectively outlaws teachers befriending their students on Facebook. This is because the only thing adults do with kids on the internet is prey on them.

Missouri's Bill 54 is supposed to protect kids from sexual abuse at the hands of teachers, which is, of course, a good goal! But outlawing teacher-student social networking is sort of like banning teachers from talking to kids on the phone. This bill would make sense if every teacher was a secret sex predator in disguise—in which case, Missouri has much bigger problems than their teachers' social networking presences. Otherwise, this bill will only discourage teachers who actually use Facebook for teaching purposes (it's possible, we hear) while doing absolutely nothing to protect kids from creeps.

But at least we're that much closer to forbidding all adult-child contact on the internet, for only then will our children be safe.

[Image via Shutterstock]