u.s. folks: your digital life is about to be radically altered if these laws are enacted.
platforms and tech companies have been taking significant steps over the past few years to comply in advance.
one thing is clear: OS-level verification and app-level autosurveillance capabilities that use facial scanning and deep metadata analysis are fundamentally incompatible with a free internet.
make your calls and emails as soon as possible.
Within the next week, Congress is preparing to vote on the KIDS Act, a sprawling package of legislation that seeks to control Americans’ web browsing and private messaging. The package includes a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, combined with a collection of other internet bills, study bills, reporting requirements, and new regulations. Instead of debating any of these proposals on their merits, lawmakers are attempting to move them all at once under an ultra-expedited process.
Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will push online services to verify all users’ ages, require government-directed moderation p
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
the KIDS ACT, which includes a version of KOSA, has made it through the House. There is also a Senate version of KOSA which has not. as of right now, KOSA is not law, it's still going through the legislative process.
this entire package is v messy, requiring companies to moderate speech on big topics that come up a lot in everyday life. it's not just about giving companies permission to violate your privacy, but making it mandatory to read and surveil everything-- including your DMs.
meaning: corporate social apps will spring for the most restrictive forms of age-vetting and invasive moderation to avoid lawsuits.
full details here.
ok, now what?
contact your Senator's office and send them an email based on the EFF's template about the Kids Act as well as KOSA. Making calls and emails by over the next week ensures that internet censorship concerns are what they'll be hearing about first day back on July 13.
