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Earn IT Act Introduced in House of Representatives

EricE 6y ago
Tech companies have brought this on themselves with their one sided content "moderation". Not that I think this is the solution - I think if a company wants to keep their 230 platform status they should be required to publicize not only their content moderation policies, but also publicly document and reference those policies for all content moderation decisions. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Don't like that? Fine - you're a publisher. Game on. Great power should require great responsibility - yes, Google, Facebook and the rest are private companies - but they are receiving special benefits via section 230 from the government too.
- bilegeek 6y ago
  They won't be the ones who suffer. They have the money and influence to keep cases against them from happening, and they have the datasets that governments desperately crave. So long as they refrain from criticizing those in power and make token remarks in public, they will in fact be the only ones that survive.
- grumio 6y ago
  Small startups don't deserve this. With EARNIT, you couldn't make a Twitter or Reddit or thingiverse or anything with a chatroom unless you already have the resources to moderate all user generated content, use committee-approved broken encryption and whatever else they force on them. > Great power should require great responsibility This doesn't just hurt the giants.
GNOMES 6y ago
I don't think any country should be able to police the web, or control what can/cannot be for encryption... But the fact this is for children will make it hard to get non-tech people to care.
chrisweekly 6y ago
FTFA: "We need your help to stop this anti-speech, anti-security bill. Email your elected officials in both chambers of Congress today and ask them to publicly oppose the EARN IT Act. The EARN IT Act would allow all 50 state legislatures, as well as U.S. territories and Washington D.C., to pass laws that would regulate the Internet. By breaking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the EARN IT bill would allow small website owners to be sued or prosecuted under state laws, as long as the prosecution or lawsuit somehow related to crimes against children. We know how websites will react to this. Once they face prosecution or lawsuits based on other peoples’ speech, they’ll monitor their users, and censor or shut down discussion forums. The bill also creates an advisory commission on Internet “best practices” that will be dominated by Attorney General William Barr and law enforcement agencies. Barr’s view on Internet “best practices” is well known—he wants to break encryption and let police read every message sent online. Public outcry has already forced amendments into the EARN IT Act that purport to defend encryption—but they’re full of loopholes. That window dressing doesn’t fix the bill’s many flaws. "
grumio 6y ago
Time for them to cash-in on the anti-big-tech rhetoric wave they've been riding since the anti-trust hearings. Also, are there other laws that are phrased like this? That you have to "earn" a right that you already have? They should just right-out say they are forcing the choice of having rights stripped or following the laws of a newly-created lawmaking body(committee). Could this new body force them to use a backdoored encryption, or even a particular NSA-made software? What a farce.

Tech companies have brought this on themselves with their one sided content "moderation". Not that I think this is the solution - I think if a company wants to keep their 230 platform status they should be required to publicize not only their content moderation policies, but also publicly document and reference those policies for all content moderation decisions. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Don't like that? Fine - you're a publisher. Game on. Great power should require great responsibility - yes, Google, Facebook and the rest are private companies - but they are receiving special benefits via section 230 from the government too.

bilegeek 6y ago
They won't be the ones who suffer. They have the money and influence to keep cases against them from happening, and they have the datasets that governments desperately crave. So long as they refrain from criticizing those in power and make token remarks in public, they will in fact be the only ones that survive.
grumio 6y ago
Small startups don't deserve this. With EARNIT, you couldn't make a Twitter or Reddit or thingiverse or anything with a chatroom unless you already have the resources to moderate all user generated content, use committee-approved broken encryption and whatever else they force on them. > Great power should require great responsibility This doesn't just hurt the giants.

GNOMES 6y ago

I don't think any country should be able to police the web, or control what can/cannot be for encryption... But the fact this is for children will make it hard to get non-tech people to care.

chrisweekly 6y ago

FTFA: "We need your help to stop this anti-speech, anti-security bill. Email your elected officials in both chambers of Congress today and ask them to publicly oppose the EARN IT Act. The EARN IT Act would allow all 50 state legislatures, as well as U.S. territories and Washington D.C., to pass laws that would regulate the Internet. By breaking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the EARN IT bill would allow small website owners to be sued or prosecuted under state laws, as long as the prosecution or lawsuit somehow related to crimes against children. We know how websites will react to this. Once they face prosecution or lawsuits based on other peoples’ speech, they’ll monitor their users, and censor or shut down discussion forums. The bill also creates an advisory commission on Internet “best practices” that will be dominated by Attorney General William Barr and law enforcement agencies. Barr’s view on Internet “best practices” is well known—he wants to break encryption and let police read every message sent online. Public outcry has already forced amendments into the EARN IT Act that purport to defend encryption—but they’re full of loopholes. That window dressing doesn’t fix the bill’s many flaws. "

grumio 6y ago

Time for them to cash-in on the anti-big-tech rhetoric wave they've been riding since the anti-trust hearings. Also, are there other laws that are phrased like this? That you have to "earn" a right that you already have? They should just right-out say they are forcing the choice of having rights stripped or following the laws of a newly-created lawmaking body(committee). Could this new body force them to use a backdoored encryption, or even a particular NSA-made software? What a farce.