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The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

cyberlaw.stanford.edu

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Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#11

Post by bee_rider »

ridaj wrote: post #6
prepend wrote: post #2

I wish they would address real problems like arbitrary enforcement of TOS that damages users with no recourse. There’s no regulation for what happens when Google or Facebook or whatever deletes or blocks an account and provides no support. Child abuse is serious, but not that common and this law will do little to change that. The lack of a UCC-style law for big tech platforms affects way more people. This seems like…

> There’s no regulation for what happens when Google or Facebook or whatever deletes or blocks an account and provides no support. Yes there is, per the trade regulations you're entitled to a refund . Wait I'm only partly sarcastic. If you think you're entitled to anything provided as a free service then the problem starts there. Do I miss the days when ISPs provided email as part of your subscription? Then made you…

The service isn't free, you pay for it with your personal information. If they want to provide refunds by deleting our information, that seems like a fair trade.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#12

Post by yareally »

jimbob45 wrote: post #8

Graham (R-SC) Blumenthal (D-CT)* Durbin (D-IL) Grassley (R-IA)* Feinstein (D-CA) Cornyn (R-TX) Whitehouse (D-RI) Hawley (R-MO) Hirono (D-HI) Kennedy (D-LA)* Casey (D-PA) Blackburn (R-TN) Masto (D-NV)* Collins (R-ME) Hassan (D-NH)* Ernst (R-IA) Warner (D-VA) Hyde-Smith (R-MI) Murkowski (R-AK)* Portman (R-OH)* * are up for re-election this year. Bit of a pain to find this information really - couldn't find a single new…

> Portman (R-OH)*

He's retiring this year. Candidates running for his spot in his party are likely to support it though

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#13

Post by umbauk »

ridaj wrote: post #6
prepend wrote: post #2

I wish they would address real problems like arbitrary enforcement of TOS that damages users with no recourse. There’s no regulation for what happens when Google or Facebook or whatever deletes or blocks an account and provides no support. Child abuse is serious, but not that common and this law will do little to change that. The lack of a UCC-style law for big tech platforms affects way more people. This seems like…

> There’s no regulation for what happens when Google or Facebook or whatever deletes or blocks an account and provides no support. Yes there is, per the trade regulations you're entitled to a refund . Wait I'm only partly sarcastic. If you think you're entitled to anything provided as a free service then the problem starts there. Do I miss the days when ISPs provided email as part of your subscription? Then made you…

Well one could argue Google and FB services are not free. Those 2 companies are 2 of the most profitable, valuable companies in the world. If they are providing their services for free, how can that be? Our attention and information is what they profit from, and that should not be undervalued. They are certainly not providing these services to us out of the goodness of their hearts.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#14

Post by [deleted] »

mrandish wrote: post #10

While this bill is strongly opposed by the Internet Society, ACLU, CDT, and EFF, the critiques I've read don't get much into the real "why" behind this legislation continuing to be pushed so forcefully. The pretext is, of course, "protect the children" and more generally law-and-order with a bonus side-helping of "stop those awful social media giants." While these justifications are (hopefully) obvious misdirection t…

[deleted]

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#15

Post by KerrAvon »

cyberlurker wrote: post #7

No matter your opinion on the issue, the firearm lobby would probably serve as an effective model for fighting legislation like this on a long term basis.

The second amendment, like abortion, is a political wedge issue used by politicians to wield against their opponents. You’re not going to replicate that with issues requiring more nuance and that cannot be used as emotional cudgels.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#16

Post by uejfiweun »

It seems like this Stanford page has clearly taken a side on the issue. Does anyone have a link to a solid unbiased discussion of the pros and cons of this? It's got bipartisan support, so clearly there are legitimate arguments in favor of these changes, would be interested to hear what they are.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#17

Post by KerrAvon »

jimbob45 wrote: post #8

Graham (R-SC) Blumenthal (D-CT)* Durbin (D-IL) Grassley (R-IA)* Feinstein (D-CA) Cornyn (R-TX) Whitehouse (D-RI) Hawley (R-MO) Hirono (D-HI) Kennedy (D-LA)* Casey (D-PA) Blackburn (R-TN) Masto (D-NV)* Collins (R-ME) Hassan (D-NH)* Ernst (R-IA) Warner (D-VA) Hyde-Smith (R-MI) Murkowski (R-AK)* Portman (R-OH)* * are up for re-election this year. Bit of a pain to find this information really - couldn't find a single new…

Feinstein really needs to go. CA can do so much better.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#18

Post by bo1024 »

eikenberry wrote: post #9

This seems like it could have a significant upside if passed. That it would help promote federated and peer to peer free software systems with no centralized, commercial target to sue. Might even require some of the current giant social networks to pair back significantly to avoid liability. I'm not saying I want it to pass, just think the unintended consequences might be interesting and even beneficial in some ways.

Pretty sure the government won't view it that way. It'll be called a loophole and crushed if it gets mainstream. This is the country where sending an HTML GET and receiving response 200 can be prosecuted under the CFAA.

We need a legal environment that explicitly protects encrypted communications, not one where they are are maybe tolerated on the fringe.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#19

Post by devwastaken »

eikenberry wrote: post #9

This seems like it could have a significant upside if passed. That it would help promote federated and peer to peer free software systems with no centralized, commercial target to sue. Might even require some of the current giant social networks to pair back significantly to avoid liability. I'm not saying I want it to pass, just think the unintended consequences might be interesting and even beneficial in some ways.

Decentralized does not mean lack of liability. That's a marketing ploy. P2P filesharers and tor hosted sites are taken to court on the daily because of this one little trick called the IP address. Everything you send has your external IP. It doesn't matter that they "can't prove it was you". Courts have continually upheld that an IP address is grounds for either civil discovery or further criminal investigation. And yes, the court can absolutely compel you to unlock your full disk encrypted MacBook/Linux/bitlocker whatever.

The only reason people en mass can do decentralized is because of the availability of encryption, because VPN's, because companies and software can offer encryption. This legislation and it's precedent would kill the decentralized web. It's not as if Google is going to go broke - they'd be the first to be approved and go on their merry way.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#20

Post by fallingknife »

uejfiweun wrote: post #16

It seems like this Stanford page has clearly taken a side on the issue. Does anyone have a link to a solid unbiased discussion of the pros and cons of this? It's got bipartisan support, so clearly there are legitimate arguments in favor of these changes, would be interested to hear what they are.

> It's got bipartisan support, so clearly there are legitimate arguments

That doesn't follow. The worst laws passed (e.g. the Patriot Act) tend to have bipartisan support.

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