So amidst the current chaos, the U.S. Senate has revived an old surveillance act that was staunchly opposed and struck down in the past:
https://surviveearnit.com/what-is-the-earn-it-act/ (EDIT: This was made back in 2020 when Trump was still in power, but the overall details of the 2022 version of the bill are still basically the same bullshit at the core)
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-on-reintroduction-of-the-earn-it-act-political-attacks-on-encryption-will-make-children-less-safe-wont-aid-victims-or-catch-predators-who-prey-on-kids
The Earn It Act. Supported by Senator Blumenthal and Senator Lindsey Graham.
If it gets through, companies might find it too risky to encrypt stuff and need to scan all online content. It's basically the people in power trying to sneak by online censorship, and LGBT groups and human rights groups are STAUNCHLY against this.
To really emphasize how bad it is, it’s supported by a far-right anti-LGBT hate group NCOSEP, a conservative anti-lgbt anti-sex group that was known as Morality in Media before they rebranded in 2015 as an "anti sex trafficking org", yet they still meet with extreme homophobes.
NCOSE is also the group behind the FOSTA/SESTA bill from 2018. NO ONE talks about how NCOSE is anti-lgbt because they've grown to have so much power they're making bills for governments internationally just like this Earn It Act.
https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-earn-it-act-to-save-our-privacy
https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2022/02/earn-it-act-back-and-it’s-more-dangerous-ever
https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/the-earn-it-act-is-a-disaster-for-online-speech-and-privacy-especially-for-the-lgbtq-and-sex-worker-communities
foundation.mozilla.org/…
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20220203/18143448411/how-earn-it-act-is-significantly-more-dangerous-than-fosta.shtml
https://www.noearnitact.org/
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2022-02-01-lawmakers-need-to-shelve-the-earn-it-act-before-they-get-someone-killed/
This will end up:
- Destroying End to End Encryption and letting the government have access to your personal data. No more protections at ALL. And this WILL affect EVERYONE globally, not just the US. People who rely on encryption to protect them, from activists to people living in dictatorships, to domestic abuse survivors? They’re FUCKED.
- Make it easy to Censor or outright eliminate LGBT content and Sex Education
- Make It even HARDER to actually stop child pornography and sexual exploitation (Which for the record is what this bill is supposedly trying to FIX)
Make no mistake; this is HEAVILY unconstitutional, but they’re weaseling around it by making private companies do their dirty work for them. NO ONE IS SAFE if this passes. Not even DailyKOS.
And for notable contrast? Senator Ron Wyden actually introduced an act that actually WOULD help Child Safety, but that one is barely getting any attention because this EARN-IT Act is NOT about helping children. It’s about giving those in power even more ability to circumvent our rights.