Oppose the Earn IT Act • Hacker News Board

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#11

Post by yummypaint » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

danboarder wrote: post #4

Where are my elected representatives that represent my privacy rights on bills like this? Maybe I need to run for office since I care about end2end encryption, free software, and the rights of free people and information to freely travel around the world...

You should call their offices. Give your qualifications and make their staff listen to you explain all the reasons why its a terrible idea. It can move the needle if enough people do it. If you have the energy to run for office then you should start by lobbying for these issues, it's good practice

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#12

Post by wtn » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #5

blintz wrote: post #3

I cannot believe that the one thing we have bipartisan consensus on is destroying strong encryption. I guess I’m biased since this is essentially my whole livelihood, but this is crazy, right?

Well, nsa mass surveillance and legalized torture were never repelled by any side. In fact, the patriot act has been prolongued 5 times, no matter the administration, and is still in effect. As a european, I don't see any party that actually have american people's interest in mind. Fighting for either seems so futile from here. Of course, we have similar problems as well so I'm not going to pretend I have a solution.

Some of the programs originally from the USA PATRIOT Act expired in March 2020.

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#13

Post by programmarchy » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

Thankful for Mozilla and EFF, but have any tech elites spoken out against this or put money into defeating it? Thiel, Musk, Altman, Graham... hello? Should we assume SV is complicit?

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#14

Post by chejazi » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

Obviously this sucks as a proposal but... how do we stop the child porn?

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#15

Post by linuxftw » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

annoyingnoob wrote: post #2

We need to vote out the people pushing for backdoors. They seem to want backdoors at any cost, without any technical understanding of why its a terrible idea. Vote them out!

Just like we needed to vote out the people that voted for the bailouts and the Iraq war.

Politics keeps moving on. I'm still on the Iraq war. I'm not interested on any other issue until we solve that one.

Edit: s/bailouts of/bailouts and/

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#16

Post by sailfast » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #8

danboarder wrote: post #4

Where are my elected representatives that represent my privacy rights on bills like this? Maybe I need to run for office since I care about end2end encryption, free software, and the rights of free people and information to freely travel around the world...

You can run, and with that platform your opponent will conveniently turn it around into "my opponent supports child molestors and terrorists". Because if you think you'll simply walk up to the podium talking about something most folks could not give a working definition for, boy, are you going to be in for a shock when your opponent "dumbs it down" for the audience. Which is how we end up with stuff like the EARN IT…

"My opponent supports the attorney general having access to your porn habits. I support your privacy" is a pretty straightforward simplified riposte to your above oversimplification.

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#17

Post by unreal6 » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #9

blintz wrote: post #3

I cannot believe that the one thing we have bipartisan consensus on is destroying strong encryption. I guess I’m biased since this is essentially my whole livelihood, but this is crazy, right?

We have bipartisan consensus[1] that tech companies have acted badly and that Section 230 should be repealed or significantly amended. I think EARN IT will probably kill Section 230, not strong encryption, so I think EARN IT is pretty great. Tech companies probably should be coming to the realization by now that it's only a matter of time (probably 4-8 years) before we close the 230 loophole: So if they're given a ch…

Can you clarify what you mean by the "230 Loophole"? Many believe that tech companies should be fully responsible for anything said on their platforms. If this were the case, I believe this would have an extraordinary chilling effect on speech.

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#18

Post by AcerbicZero » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

danboarder wrote: post #4

Where are my elected representatives that represent my privacy rights on bills like this? Maybe I need to run for office since I care about end2end encryption, free software, and the rights of free people and information to freely travel around the world...

Awkwardly enough the only Senator I have even the smallest amount of respect for these days did add a bunch of amendments to try and fix parts of it....but I think its a shit bill from top to bottom and I expect him to vote against it anyway.

Perhaps instead of supporting politicians who "say" they're going to do X, Y, and Z we should support politicians who have a track record of doing exactly X, Y and Z regardless of how politically convenient it is to do something else.

More laws will not fix the problem of having too many bad laws, in my opinion.

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#19

Post by blisterpeanuts » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #5

blintz wrote: post #3

I cannot believe that the one thing we have bipartisan consensus on is destroying strong encryption. I guess I’m biased since this is essentially my whole livelihood, but this is crazy, right?

Well, nsa mass surveillance and legalized torture were never repelled by any side. In fact, the patriot act has been prolongued 5 times, no matter the administration, and is still in effect. As a european, I don't see any party that actually have american people's interest in mind. Fighting for either seems so futile from here. Of course, we have similar problems as well so I'm not going to pretend I have a solution.

Trump threatened to veto the Patriot renewal bill, which includes the FISA court, despite bipartisan support. The bill is now withdrawn pending rewrite.

Re: Oppose the Earn IT Act

#20

Post by manuelabeledo » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #9

blintz wrote: post #3

I cannot believe that the one thing we have bipartisan consensus on is destroying strong encryption. I guess I’m biased since this is essentially my whole livelihood, but this is crazy, right?

We have bipartisan consensus[1] that tech companies have acted badly and that Section 230 should be repealed or significantly amended. I think EARN IT will probably kill Section 230, not strong encryption, so I think EARN IT is pretty great. Tech companies probably should be coming to the realization by now that it's only a matter of time (probably 4-8 years) before we close the 230 loophole: So if they're given a ch…

Honest question, why do you think that Section 230 should be repealed?

I myself believe that companies should be doing a better job at moderating the contents they host in their websites, but also that by repealing such provision, smaller ventures with not enough money to enforce the rules, would either go bankrupt or simply suppress any third party content to avoid issues with the law enforcement.