Just Nerdy Things

As I'm sure you know, the KIDS Act, which includes KOSA and other age-verification bills, passed the House and now moves onto the Senate. 267 representatives voted yes, 117 voted no, and 47 did not vote, with a decent number of Democrats voting no.

While this is bad news, the good news is that we pushed thousands of calls in opposition and there are still opportunities to stop these bills. Richard Blumenthal and some key sponsors of KOSA in the Senate DO NOT like the House versions of KOSA/the KIDS Act because they want the bill to include a duty-of-care provision. This duty of care provision has been widely contested, as the House of Representatives opposes it, while those in the Senate support it. While many are saying it's DOA (dead on arrival) in the Senate because of this, we must still call our Senators now to take advantage of this friction and ensure NO VERSION of these bills passes this year.

The Senate is currently out until July 15th, so please use the resources below to get ahead of these bills.

The bills passing the House are not the end, so continue to spread the word and call to oppose the KIDS Act/H.R. 7757!

if the senate changes the bill to include duty of care, it has to be re-voted on within the house. the house passing this with the duty of care included is very unlikely, as they do not want duty of care. the senate passing the version without duty of care is also very unlikely, as major cosponsors and senators have called the house version, "dead on arrival" without it. this has been the fight forever. this will take time, it's not something that's just going to happen overnight.

So I just finished calling my Reps and Senators this morning about these dangerous internet bills that we do not want to become law with the script I asked Gemini to make. You don't want to copy it word for word, you can tell them why you oppose these bills in your own words, and also, especially, tell them that you will NOT vote for them this upcoming election should they keep prioritizing these unwanted age verification laws.

...

Script:

You: "Hello, my name is [Your Name] and I am a constituent living in [Your City/Town or Zip Code]. I am calling to urge [Representative/Senator's Last Name] to vote NO on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the KIDS Act package."

Staffer: (Will usually say thank you, and may ask for your reasoning or take notes.)

You: "While protecting children online is a vital goal, these bills utilize a fundamentally flawed approach that threatens the digital rights and free speech of all internet users—including the young people they claim to protect.

I strongly object to these bills for three main reasons:

Mass Censorship Concerns: By creating vague legal liabilities for online platforms, these bills will force tech companies to aggressively over-filter the internet. This will result in the suppression of constitutionally protected speech and restrict access to vital educational resources, mental health support, and communities for marginalized youth.

Privacy and Surveillance Risks: In order to comply with these regulations, websites will be heavily incentivized to implement mandatory age-verification technologies. This means everyday citizens and minors will be forced to hand over sensitive personal data or government IDs just to browse the web, dramatically increasing the risk of data breaches and government surveillance.

Stripping Digital Autonomy: These laws prioritize top-down censorship over genuine digital literacy and safer platform architecture, undermining the fundamental rights of users to access information freely.

So, in terrible news, Trump's trying to pull some strings to pass this massive internet censorship bill, featuring all the kinds of internet censorship we're terrified of, including mandatory ID for accessing basically any website, specifically to crush state regulation of AI, because apparently this man will always see the moral bottom of the barrel and start digging.

kosa update (RED ALERT):

this is an all hands on deck situation right now. the house seems to have made a bipartisan agreement, and is set to be voted into law as soon as next week. again, there's no exact date, but it's an estimate on when it'll happen.

this will be voted by the house representatives. this is a floor vote. if passed, it'll go to senate.

for the next two weeks, call your house representatives. make them oppose this as soon as possible.

that'll be all for now.

Even if you don’t live there, if you still live somewhere in the states, please, listen up.

“The MA legislature and governor just proposed dangerous social media surveillance legislation that would require everyone in the state, including adults, to upload a government ID or submit to a face scan to create a social media account. If something like this passes here, it will spread to other states faster than activists can fight back.

I have an op-ed out in today's Boston Globe explaining why this legislation would hurt kids and help Trump attack LGBTQ youth and undocumented folks. You can read it here (no paywall) https://archive.ph/rAK4P

If you're in MA, please send this to your state senators and the governor! They need to read it! You can also use this tool to easily call the key lawmakers who will be making decisions about this: https://www.stoponlineidchecks.org/ma “

- Fight For the Future Signal chat

I encourage reading EFF’s article linked below as it goes into the greater details of the legislation aside from this, but key notes:

• Forces everyone (not just kids) to upload a government ID or submit to a facial recognition scan to create a social media account or post online, even on educational sites like Wikipedia

• Force parents to send even more sensitive information to Big Tech companies to “verify” custody in order for a minor to create an account (think: sending a birth certificate to Mark Zuckerberg to let your teen create an account)

• Allow unsupportive parents to lock queer and trans youth off the Internet, restricting access to life-saving community and information with zero recourse

• Expand the Trump admin’s surveillance capabilities, making it easier for them to persecute people organizing protests, monitoring ICE, and criticizing the administration

• Cost Massachusetts tax payers enormously, as the legislation is clearly unconstitutional and would face legal challenges.

• Specifically harm undocumented folks who use social media to warn communities about ICE activity and raise money for family members

• Fine smaller and non-profit tech platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky out of business, further expanding the monopolies of Big Tech platforms

It is one of many of the worst pieces of digital surveillance legislation right now in the states.

If you’re in MA, please call and write to your state senators and governor through EFF’s article below, and if you’re not, either spread the word or call them too, but, don’t give them your ZIP code so they don’t know where you are.