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A sneaky attempt to end encryption

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  • A sneaky attempt to end encryption

    I stumbled on a reddit post about a nasty thing that Congress is pushing while we are focused on the Wuhan virus.


    https://www.theverge.com/interface/2...am-match-group

    One risk of having the world pay attention to a single, all-consuming story is that less important but still urgent stories are missed along the way. One such unfolding story in our domain is the (deep breath) Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (“EARN IT”) Act, which was the subject of a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Here’s Alfred Ng with an explainer in CNET:

    The EARN IT Act was introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Democrat of Connecticut), along with Sen. Josh Hawley (Republican of Missouri) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat of California) on March 5.

    The premise of the bill is that technology companies have to earn Section 230 protections rather than being granted immunity by default, as the Communications Decency Act has provided for over two decades.

    For starters, it’s not clear that companies have to “earn” what are already protections provided under the First Amendment: to publish, and to allow their users to publish, with very few legal restrictions. But if the EARN IT Act were passed, tech companies could be held liable if their users posted illegal content. This would represent a significant and potentially devastating amendment to Section 230, a much-misunderstood law that many consider a pillar of the internet and the businesses that operate on top of it.
    The article further goes on to say
    It would do that by setting up a byzantine checklist structure that would handcuff companies to a difficult-to-modify set of procedures. One item on that checklist could be eliminating end-to-end encryption in messaging apps, depriving the world of a secure communications tool at a time when authoritarian governments are surging around the world.
    I didn't finish reading through this but wanted to post it out of general concern.

    One problem with many internet laws is that we reach a point where you need a lawyer to determine whether you are meeting all the laws. In this way, it becomes difficult for the average person to set up websites.

  • #2
    If service providers can be liable for user's content, that would pretty much end Theologyweb, Facebook, Reddit and any other online social media.

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    • #3
      This bill has nothing at all to do with the stated goal of protecting children. It is just latest spin the NSA and CIA is using to justify its mass surveilance system.

      But very well, let's see what a decade does with weaker encryption and backdoors that they've dreamed of having will do. NSA believes they can control all those things, though let's not forget that their entire arsenal of hacking tools was sold by an insider on the black market recently.

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      • #4
        Congress is pushing while we are focused on the Wuhan virus
        Why let a good crisis go to waste?
        Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

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