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The US Is Trying To Ban NSFW Content Again
3 years ago
I really don't like making journals like this. I was a hot mess before I moved to San Antonio, and I'd constantly be freaking out over one thing or another. The last thing I want is for one of my followers to see this and go "SMH. Here he goes again!".
But, I wouldn't be attempting to ruin your day if I didn't think this was important. Congress in the US just proposed an extremely censorious and invasive new bill called the EARN IT Act. They say it's about "child protection", but the bill's provisions wouldn't do a single thing to accomplish that goal. Instead, it would...
1. Allow individual states to make and enforce laws that websites must follow if they don't want to get prosecuted for child sexual abuse.
You've been following the news, right? States controlled by the Republican Party have been on a tear for the last year or so. The governor of my state tried to pressure libraries to remove books that featured LGBT people or discussed LGBT-related matters, calling those books "pornography". Do you really think that governors like Greg Abbott or Attorneys General like Ken Paxton won't abuse the fuck out of this law to ban anything that offends their fragile Christian sensibilities?
2. Make it incredibly risky for websites to continue to offer encryption. While the present version of EARN IT (Pre-markup. Things could get worse. Or better, as unlikely as that might be) doesn't ban encryption, it does very strongly discourage it by allowing it to be entered in as evidence of negligence. You know how chilling effects work, right? As long as you make something legally risky to do, people will act as though it is officially illegal. In any case, this would end up resulting in a dramatic expansion of surveillance powers.
3. Form an unelected commission that'd determine "best practices" websites must follow. So, while this commission's recommendations might be non-binding, in the real world, judges and lawyers will still point to failure to follow as proof of "negligence" in court. And the people appointed to the commission wouldn't have your best interests in mind. We'd likely get a bunch of cops (since both Democrats and Republicans LOVE law & order. Not the show... The concept) and prude groups like the NCOSE/Exodus Cry who hide their desire to censor content that goes against their religion under progressive-sounding language. They will likely ask websites to censor broadly and share your stuff with law enforcement without asking.
This bill will be an utter disaster if it becomes law. It will completely destroy the concept of free speech as we know it online and subject everything we do to the prying eyes of Big Brother. And the scariest part is that it has a ton of momentum. It's already scheduled for markup next week and has NINETEEN cosponsors in the Senate AND a companion bill in the House. And considering how politically unpopular it was to speak out against FOSTA/SESTA years ago and considering how fast they're going, this could easily wind up on Joe Biden's desk and be signed into law by Memorial Day. I'll be blunt. I don't know if we can stop this. I don't know if anything we see or do today will still be around in the coming weeks. But, we still have to do what we can to make a stand against this. Please, spread the word and all of that. If nothing else, we can't be silent. We have to let these people know that we aren't consenting to this.
For more information, check out https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2.....an-fosta.shtml and https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/.....nline-messages . Also read this Tumblr post: https://fullhalalalchemist.tumblr.c.....-in-the-senate .
But, I wouldn't be attempting to ruin your day if I didn't think this was important. Congress in the US just proposed an extremely censorious and invasive new bill called the EARN IT Act. They say it's about "child protection", but the bill's provisions wouldn't do a single thing to accomplish that goal. Instead, it would...
1. Allow individual states to make and enforce laws that websites must follow if they don't want to get prosecuted for child sexual abuse.
You've been following the news, right? States controlled by the Republican Party have been on a tear for the last year or so. The governor of my state tried to pressure libraries to remove books that featured LGBT people or discussed LGBT-related matters, calling those books "pornography". Do you really think that governors like Greg Abbott or Attorneys General like Ken Paxton won't abuse the fuck out of this law to ban anything that offends their fragile Christian sensibilities?
2. Make it incredibly risky for websites to continue to offer encryption. While the present version of EARN IT (Pre-markup. Things could get worse. Or better, as unlikely as that might be) doesn't ban encryption, it does very strongly discourage it by allowing it to be entered in as evidence of negligence. You know how chilling effects work, right? As long as you make something legally risky to do, people will act as though it is officially illegal. In any case, this would end up resulting in a dramatic expansion of surveillance powers.
3. Form an unelected commission that'd determine "best practices" websites must follow. So, while this commission's recommendations might be non-binding, in the real world, judges and lawyers will still point to failure to follow as proof of "negligence" in court. And the people appointed to the commission wouldn't have your best interests in mind. We'd likely get a bunch of cops (since both Democrats and Republicans LOVE law & order. Not the show... The concept) and prude groups like the NCOSE/Exodus Cry who hide their desire to censor content that goes against their religion under progressive-sounding language. They will likely ask websites to censor broadly and share your stuff with law enforcement without asking.
This bill will be an utter disaster if it becomes law. It will completely destroy the concept of free speech as we know it online and subject everything we do to the prying eyes of Big Brother. And the scariest part is that it has a ton of momentum. It's already scheduled for markup next week and has NINETEEN cosponsors in the Senate AND a companion bill in the House. And considering how politically unpopular it was to speak out against FOSTA/SESTA years ago and considering how fast they're going, this could easily wind up on Joe Biden's desk and be signed into law by Memorial Day. I'll be blunt. I don't know if we can stop this. I don't know if anything we see or do today will still be around in the coming weeks. But, we still have to do what we can to make a stand against this. Please, spread the word and all of that. If nothing else, we can't be silent. We have to let these people know that we aren't consenting to this.
For more information, check out https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2.....an-fosta.shtml and https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/.....nline-messages . Also read this Tumblr post: https://fullhalalalchemist.tumblr.c.....-in-the-senate .
here he goes again.
I just wish that I wasn't such a hot mess before I moved to San Antonio. I don't know if anybody really believes me anymore.
But, here's the thing. I feel nothing. I know that sooner or later, something like this is going to succeed and I've been emotionally detached from it all for a while.
Thanks for checking in on me.
Sorry I haven't talked to you more often...
And you need to modify your title, it's not "US", it's "Republicans".
Already signed this and trying to spread awareness.
If anyone read this, my gallery is full of infos about why the earn It Bill sucks and how to fight it.
Feel free to join our discord server to organize our efforts against it!
https://discord.gg/44vYfQNUxX