cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/1695713

An excellent article by Melissa Gira Grant. An excerpt:

"In the 2000s, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal called social media sites a “playground for predators.” Blumenthal’s rhetoric hasn’t changed much in 15 years: Now he and h>is allies in this effort on the Hill speak of the platforms themselves as preying on children’s well-being....

For KOSA supporters on the right, like the think tank the Heritage Foundation, defining “harm” to children in this way—aligning with the broader reactionary movement to silence any opponents of the white, straight, and cis patriarchal order—is precisely the benefit of the bill. Democrats who say they support trans kids, though, seem to be unalarmed by the reasons a group like Heritage might back this bill."

If you're in the US, https://www.stopkosa.com/ has a form to contact Congress. Or look up your Senators' phone numbers here and call them directly. Tell them you want to oppose S. 1409, the Kids Online Safety Act because it won't help keep kids safe and it'll harm LGBTQ teens.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/technology@lemmy.world/t/297908

Anti-speech laws are spreading from states to Congress, and the future of online speech could hang in the balance

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/1311918

The bill is KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act -- which has support from plenty of Democrats as well as Republicans.

If you're in the US, please contact Congress today if at all possible; the Senate Commerce Committee is voting on the bill tomorrow. https://www.stopkosa.com/ has a form if you want to send email, and also makes it easy to call.

Or look up your Senators' phone numbers here and call them directly. Tell them you want to oppose S. 1409, the Kids Online Safety Act because it won't help keep kids safe and it'll harm LGBTQ teens.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1170157

KOSA, the "Kids Online Safety Act", sounds good. Who doesn't want to keep kids safe? But as over 90 LGBTQ and human rights organizations said last year, KOSA would harm LGBTQ+ youth especially, and could be weaponized by Attorneys General to censor online resources and information for queer and trans youth, people seeking reproductive healthcare, and more.

And it's not just a hypothetical concern! This article from a couple months ago includes a screenshot of a Heritage Foundation tweet talking about how they'll KOSA to attack trans-related content -- because after all, they think that censoring trans-related content is "protecting kids".

So if you're in the US, please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose KOSA.

• EFF has a handy web form

• if you prefer the phone, you can call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The bill number is S. 1409. Your message doesn't have to be fancy: "KOSA won't keep kids safe" is enough if they're Republicans; if they're Democrats you can add "and it will harm LGBTQ+ teens".

• or, https://resist.bot/ lets you contact your legislators by texting or using Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp .

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/1241833

EFF:

The STOP CSAM Act of 2023 would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption and push internet companies to take down lawful user speech. This dangerous bill would threaten security and free speech on the internet—but incredibly, it may pass Congress without even being seriously debated. Some lawmakers are seeking to attach this dangerous proposal to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the “must-pass” military budget bill.

So if you're in the US, please contact Congress ASAP! EFF's form makes it easy.

And whether or not you're in the US, please help get the word out! This is only one of many bad internet bills that might pass this week -- !bad_internet_bills@lemmy.sdf.org has other links to vote up and cross-post.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1170157

KOSA, the "Kids Online Safety Act", sounds good. Who doesn't want to keep kids safe? But as over 90 LGBTQ and human rights organizations said last year, KOSA would harm LGBTQ+ youth especially, and could be weaponized by Attorneys General to censor online resources and information for queer and trans youth, people seeking reproductive healthcare, and more.

And it's not just a hypothetical concern! This article from a couple months ago includes a screenshot of a Heritage Foundation tweet talking about how they'll KOSA to attack trans-related content -- because after all, they think that censoring trans-related content is "protecting kids".

So if you're in the US, please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose KOSA.

• EFF has a handy web form

• if you prefer the phone, you can call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The bill number is S. 1409. Your message doesn't have to be fancy: "KOSA won't keep kids safe" is enough if they're Republicans; if they're Democrats you can add "and it will harm LGBTQ+ teens".

• or, https://resist.bot/ lets you contact your legislators by texting or using Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp .

EFF writes:

KOSA has laudable goals, but it also presents significant unintended consequences that threaten the privacy, safety, and access to information rights of young people and adults alike. Teenagers already understand that this sweeping legislation is more about censorship than safety. Now we just need to make sure Congress does, as well.

Take action! If you're in the US, Use EFF's page to Tell Congress: KOSA Will Censor the Internet But Won't Help Kids

And please help get the word out! Four ways to hep:

1. Cross-post this link to communities and magazines where it's on-topic
2. Upvote and share the other links in !bad_internet_bills@lemmy.sdf.org
3. If you're on Mastodon, check out the #KOSA hashtag and boost the posts you see there
4. Tell your friends on other social networks as well.

If you're on kbin, Mastodon, Firefish, or some other fediverse platform that lets you follow people, here's some relevant accounts for this campaign -- and for other digitial rights issues.

The reply has suggestions for European advocates and organizations.

Coverage of the week of action in Common Dreams, with quotes from @evangreer@mastodon.online of Fight for the Future.

If you want to help, here are four easy ways:

1. If you live in the US, contact your legislators using Fight for the Future’s https://www.badinternetbills.com/
2. Upvote and boost posts in !bad_internet_bills@lemmy.sdf.org -- and cross-post them to other communities and magazines where they're on-topic
3. On Mastodon, boost posts on the #BadInternetBills and #KOSA hashtags
4. Get the word out on other social networks too

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1101954

The "Kids Online Safety Act" (KOSA) is one of the Bad Internet Bills EFF is asking for help trying to stop. KOSA sounds like a good bill. Who doesn't want kids to be safe online? But KOSA wouldn't actually make kids safer -- and the way it's written would be especially harmful to LGBTQIA2S+ people.

As over 90 Human Rights and LGBTQ groups said in this letter the sent to Congress last year opposing KOSA:

"KOSA establishes a burdensome, vague “duty of care” to prevent harms to minors for a broad range of online services that are reasonably likely to be used by a person under the age of 17. While KOSA’s aims of preventing harassment, exploitation, and mental health trauma for minors are laudable, the legislation is unfortunately likely to have damaging unintended consequences for young people.

KOSA would require online services to “prevent” a set of harms to minors, which is effectively an instruction to employ broad content filtering to limit minors’ access to certain online content. Content filtering is notoriously imprecise; filtering used by schools and libraries in response to the Children’s Internet Protection Act has curtailed access to critical information such as sex education or resources for LGBTQ+ youth. Online services would face substantial pressure to over-moderate, including from state Attorneys General seeking to make political points about what kind of information is appropriate for young people.

At a time when books with LGBTQ+ themes are being banned from school libraries and people providing healthcare to trans children are being falsely accused of “grooming,” KOSA would cut off another vital avenue of access to information for vulnerable youth."

KOSA has.a markup session in the Senate next week, so now's a critical time to be telling Congress that we don't want this bad internet bill. So please help get the word out -- and if you're in the US, EFF's KOSA action page makes it easy to contact Congress

#BadInternetBills #KOSA #privacy

Red alert! For the last six months, EFF, our supporters, and dozens of other groups have been sounding the alarm about several #BadInternetBills that have been put forward in Congress. We’ve made it clear that these bills are terrible ideas, but Congress is now considering packaging them together—possibly into must-pass legislation. I’m asking you to join us, ACLU, Fight for the Future, and other digital rights defenders in a week of action to protect the internet. Will you take a few minutes to join us in telling Congress that these bills must not become law?

The EFF page has links to actions you can quickly take to contact your lawmaker

All of the bad internet bills. One website.