The anti-privacy EARN IT Act could change the internet as we know it • Hacker News Board

Re: The anti-privacy EARN IT Act could change the internet as we know it

#41

Post by thephyber » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 11:17 PM UTC

JoeSmithson wrote: post #39

thephyber wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the bill still claims to be about "child online exploitation", that's plenty reason to be skeptical. "Think of the children" is a powerful weapon because it's easy for the sponsors to politically assassinate anyone who votes against it. Source: I worked for a company that used that argument when lobbying. I know enough about myself to know I'm not qualified to represent myself in court and I'm not qualified to rea…

By this logic, no legislation can ever seek to reduce online child sexual exploitation

I'd prefer we stop all sexual exploitation, not just online and not just of children.

That said, all new legislation must weigh what is lost against what we anticipate to gain.

Re: The anti-privacy EARN IT Act could change the internet as we know it

#42

Post by StanislavPetrov » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 1:01 AM UTC

There are so many awful things about this bill that its hard to know where to begin. What makes it especially ridiculous is that it does nothing to prevent people with even basic technical knowledge from sending encrypted communications. At the end of the day, encryption is simply math. You can't outlaw math.

Re: The anti-privacy EARN IT Act could change the internet as we know it

#43

Post by smartbit » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #23

smartbit wrote: post #3

previous discussions https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22earn%20it%20act%22

You can also use "comments>N" and "points>N" to narrow down to the major threads, a la https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Thanks @dang

Re: The anti-privacy EARN IT Act could change the internet as we know it

#44

Post by blitmap » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

jjcon wrote: post #10

blitmap wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it has any chance of passing, it could very much cripple the tech sector in the US and make us less competitive. On the other side of the coin, this is not going to stop individuals from using encryption that isn't broken. It would be ugly to see what it does in commercial spaces, and to your average citizen whose data is less protected. I think it would force a knowledgeable subcommunity further into the shadows…

You replied to my comment but you didn’t even read the bill. Read the amendments, they specifically outline that the scope of this bill will not impact encryption laws (which they added specifically because of all the fear-mongering brought by the companies that stand to lose from this bill).

I apologize, I didn't see the amendment. I did respond out of anger from the encryption standpoint.

I still don't like that for a number of other reasons safe harbor can be tossed aside