EARN IT ACT Venting - Help Us!

Posted by Enigma2Me - March 4th, 2022

Okay, I need to vent here:

WHAT IS THE EARNIT ACT of 2022, AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

It's an online censorship and mass surveillance act that was introduced 2 years ago by Senator Blumenthal and Graham, and is supposedly about protecting children online dealing with material that is deemed “unsafe for children”. But various online privacy groups and human rights groups such as the ACLU and Fight For the Future have noted that it not only doesn't protect children, it actually makes them LESS safe while being heavily aimed at attacking encryption. This was bad enough at the time in 2020 that it was fiercely rejected and was essentially shelved. But now it’s been re-introduced, and as far as we can tell, Most of the changes were extremely minor at best, with the core problems of the bill pretty much being exactly the same as it was back in 2020. No doubt hoping to take advantage of people's complacency and other current hot topics as a distraction to push it through under the radar.

And it’s being fast-tracked through the Senate as of February 2022. We don’t know how long it’ll be until it reaches the Senate Floor, but if it does, the internet as we know it could basically cease to exist. Freedom of speech will be greatly crippled, information can be silenced and censored on a whim.

I've seen plenty of dismissive comments, both on and outside of this site, in regards to the EARN IT Act, and it grinds my gears. People who keep saying either that the bill will never pass and that I'm getting worked up over nothing, or people who are so convinced it will pass that they've just given up and expect me to stop bothering them about the inevitable.

And I'm honestly sick of this dismissive behavior.

Acting as if this is just something you can just choose to ignore and that it'll NEEVER happen or something like that.

That being said, I get it.

You don't think you have anything to contribute.

You're scared of looking like a fool and saying something stupid or making a mistake in front of the people you're trying to convince.

You're overwhelmed by outside obligations and can't do anything of substance in your mind.

Or you just want to get away from politics and just mindlessly play games/watch media without having to care about the world around you.

And maybe dozens of other reasons that are far more varied than I know of.

But still, it'd help if you guys would at least contribute more. Post some ideas on what you think you can do, talk more about this, Just GIVE SOME indication that you're not just lurking around expecting a select few people to do all the work and hoping you'd only have to do the easy stuff and coast along on the glory before going back to your existence of apathetically not giving a damn.

The reality is that the people doing the work right now? We're not any more sure than you are.

We're taking chances, making mistakes by the truckload whether we realize it or not, wishing we had done things differently when we realize we did... and we're still getting backup and trying anyways.

And we all have our own obligations to deal with. I get it. But this isn't just some minor bill that will only mildly inconvenience you, so you can afford to not care or ignore it.

If this passes, WE. ARE. ALL. FUCKED.

This website is fucked. Every website that the zealots and power-hungry control freaks that will no doubt target for their own gain is fucked.

The internet IS FUCKED.

And frankly, even if it was done in a way that only happened to fuck over the people you didn't care about and not yourself, this is only another step towards an even more dystopian society that would eventually reach your little comfort zone, regardless how much you might adjust overtime. The fall is gradual, not some giant comet apocalypse situation where you have no choice but to notice, and it WILL come for you.

We ALL need to contribute, we all need to work together. This is not a group project where a tiny group of people do all the work, and everyone else just does the easiest thing.

WE. STILL. HAVE. TIME.

And as long as we have time, we have a chance.

And even if it does pass, we need to make it as big of a PR Nightmare as possible. Make it clear that we're not going down without a fight.

So please, TAKE ACTION:

TEXT PVLKLV To 50409 to send an automated message to your representative to vote NO For EARNIT.
Spread the Word online! Link to the various petitions and other info-dense articles about this Act below!
Also the Twitter Hashtags: #EARNITAct, #STOPTheEARNITAct2022, #NoEarnItAct
But also effective is to contact your Senators directly.

Call Script For Contacting Senators: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huD5Ldd1lPTECYTEb9Gg2ZzrqW6Y9tryHT-MdjOl8kY/edit

PETITIONS:

https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-earn-it-act-to-save-our-privacy

https://www.noearnitact.org/

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/oppose-earn-it-act/

LINKS FOR MORE IN-DEPTH INFORMATION:

EARN IT MegaPost: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xcjeKqml8QbqiaTfDiciMQ5AnjxoVHh6T6sAMM5D2EU/edit

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/its-back-senators-want-earn-it-bill-scan-all-online-messages

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/if-earn-it-passes-what-happens-your-iphone-wont-stay-your-iphone

https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/unintended-consequences-of-the-earn-it-act/

https://www.inputmag.com/tech/activists-warn-earn-it-act-hurt-lgbtq-communities-most

https://www.article19.org/resources/us-senate-must-drop-the-earn-it-act/