Congress, Stop Supporting Censorship! KOSA Threatens Free Speech in the US

[Dhoomstriker]

Beware he who would deny you access to information.

I think that PPQ_Purple wrote a pretty insightful message.

My question is who does this apply to? Is this going to criminalise this place? What about an individual with a usenet server or a Mastadon host?

These services are not likely to be seen as the most mainstream and thus they may not be immediately affected. I do believe that once the more mainstream services fall under control, it won't be long after that such seemingly-non-mainstream services also get targeted.

For example, if some politicians decide to target sites which allow discussions about LGBTQ+ issues, such services could become targets, but there are many other examples which could also apply. Here at CFC, we host content for games which often involve war and violence; if some politicians decide to go after sites with that type of content, this site could also easily become a target.

Well here's one idea: schools can just ban students from visiting to any ".com" sites while on their premises. Just .edu or .gov. There must be a way for their servers to do that. And that might be the best anyone can do. Rather than trying to make these tech companies dance to your tune.
That or mom and dad just monitor them.

Schools, Mom, and Dad could certainly change the default search engine to one which has content filters which cannot be disabled within the search engine's settings and which have an emphasis on providing privacy to users. Search is often the gateway to discovery, especially for accidental/unintentional discovery of certain types of content. It is not by any means a complete solution, but it is one additional play to put in your handbook. Examples can include:
https://swisscows.com
https://www.qwantjunior.com/

The internet has become a cesspool of lies, scams, porn, misinformation and data collection that easily dwarfs its value as a source of information for too many people. Today's web is nothing like it was 20 years ago. The problem is that there is no barrier between "information" and "crap."

Search engines like the ones linked above could add a partial barrier for filtering out some of those things, such as porn, as well as violence, at least for those people who do not wish to accidentally be exposed to such types of content.

Misinformation and lies will continue to exist no matter what the future of the Internet, but this bill may be a gateway to making it so that only certain powerful forces will be the ones to be able to shape the flow of (mis)information.

If we keep our children in the dark, they may not be able to gain the mental tools required to differentiate between "information" and "crap." Providing supervised and interactive reviewing of content side-by-side with children, whether it is by a parent, a grandparent, or a teacher, can be a great opportunity for an adult to share advice and wisdom on the subject of differentiating the two types from each other. Smarten up our kids is the message of the day.

For the most part, those under 17 make lots of stupid mistakes and do stupid things. At the other end of the spectrum, too many older folks are uninformed about how web interactions can steal from them. Those folks though will be dying off. It is my grandchildren and your children who will be impacted by ongoing and continuous access to "all the internet has to offer" who will bear the consequences.

I understand that we want to do things to help those who are less informed.

There are technology tools which anyone could benefit from for reducing data collection; I am familiar with some. If there is interest, let me know and I could possibly create a thread along this subject. I have posted a few messages here and there, buried in other threads, but maybe a dedicated thread could be a way to go, if there is interest, which we could then point any of them to as a possible resource. Who knows; some of them might end up staying on the forums and become players in the upcoming Civ 7 game.

I don't have all of the answers, but from my belief, this legislation will not be an effective solution to addressing your concerns.


In Canada, there is also legislation under consideration around the subject of Age Verification for pornographic websites. A major Age Verification provider's association called the Age Verification Providers Association was invited to share information with the government. That association is seemingly based around the UK where such type of legislation appears to have already come into effect.

Upon visiting the websites of more than 20 of those services, every single service's website appears to involve connections to Big Tech, sometimes through analytics services and sometimes by being hosted on Big Tech servers.

While we could make the argument that many other companies do the same thing, is it really appropriate to involve Big Tech in age-verification services? Involving Big Tech does not appear to be in-line with that association's Code of Conduct, which all of those services must subscribe to, where it says that "Data privacy should be paramount."

We could also make the argument that there are not any privacy-oriented alternatives to Big Tech, but our argument could only be made without having first looked at the market as a whole.
For example, there are 20 alternative providers at the following link:
https://www.eucloud.tech/eu-alternatives-to/aws-amazon-web-services

There are also some alternative providers, with some overlap with the list above, which offer less-sophisticated hosting options, but which could work perfectly well for certain use cases, such as hosting CFC forums:
https://www.eucloud.tech/eu-providers/vps-hosting

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Chat Control
The European Union is attempting to push a Chat Control law which is similar to the KOSA legislation that is being pushed in the US.

It can be said to be some of the same forces who are behind this global push to take away our fundamental rights and freedoms.

To date, people in the European Union have successfully pushed back against the legislation, but it is still slated to come up for another parliamentary vote. If you live in the European Union, more information can be found at these links:
https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/take-action-to-stop-chat-control-now/
https://www.chatcontrol.eu

Austalian citizens have also pushed back against similar legislation.

For the US, for the European Union, and for other countries right now, the following cool and short video can help to put things in to perspective and can help to underscore just how important it is to speak out against the KOSA and Chat Control legislation:
https://digitalcourage.video/w/xziZATY2WtahJumeHCaavu

The same video is also available in other languages:
https://nextcloud.pp-eu.eu/index.php/s/cwyRic7cC5zcfHk?path=/Videos/all languages


Below are some quotes relating to Chat Control but which also have relevance to why it is important to speak out against the US KOSA legislation.


https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/chat-control/
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On 11 May 2022 the European Commission presented a proposal which would make chat control searching mandatory for all e-mail and messenger providers and would even apply to so far securely end-to-end encrypted communication services. Prior to the proposal a public consultation had revealed that a majority of respondents, both citizens and stakeholders, opposed imposing an obligation to use chat control. Over 80% of respondents opposed its application to end-to-end encrypted communications.

How does this affect you?
All of your chat conversations and emails will be automatically searched for suspicious content. Nothing remains confidential or secret. There is no requirement of a court order or an initial suspicion for searching your messages. It occurs always and automatically.

hackers may be able to spy on your private chats and emails. The door will be open for anyone with the technical means to read your messages if secure encryption is removed in order to be able to screen messages.

If you are under 16, you will no longer be able to install the following apps from the app store (reason given: risk of grooming): Messenger apps such as Whatsapp, Snapchat, Telegram or Twitter, social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok or Facebook, games such as FIFA, Minecraft, GTA, Call of Duty, Roblox, dating apps, video conferencing apps such as Zoom, Skype, Facetime.

Criminal justice is being privatized. In the future the algorithms of corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft will decide which user is a suspect and which is not. The proposed legislation contains no transparency requirements for the algorithms used.

Chat Control harms children and abuse victims
Safe spaces are destroyed. Victims of sexual violence are especially in need of the ability to communicate safely and confidentially to seek counseling and support, for example to safely exchange among each other, with their therapists or attorneys. The introduction of real-time monitoring takes these safe rooms away from them. This can discourage victims from seeking help and support.
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https://netzpolitik.org/2024/client-side-scanning-chat-control-is-pure-surveillance-state/
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The surveillance proponents pretend that they want to better protect children and tell horror stories based on dubious figures. But it was clear from the outset that chat control is about attacking end-to-end encryption – and therefore the secure and private communication of billions of people. Because if the EU, with its 450 million inhabitants, introduces chat control, it will have a global impact.

From the very beginning, a lobby network intertwined with the security apparatus has been pushing chat control.
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https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/2...us-fight-over-scanning-for-child-sex-content/
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An investigation uncovers a web of influence in the powerful coalition aligned behind the European Commission's proposal to scan for child sexual abuse material online, a proposal leading experts say puts rights at risk and will introduce new vulnerabilities by undermining encryption.

The regulation would obligate digital platforms – from Facebook to Telegram, Signal to Snapchat, TikTok to clouds and online gaming websites – to detect and report any trace of child sexual abuse material, CSAM, on their systems and in their users' private chats.

privacy advocates and tech specialists who say it will unleash a massive new surveillance system and threaten the use of end-to-end encryption, currently the ultimate way to secure digital communications from prying eyes.


Arda Gerkens, former director of Europe's oldest hotline for reporting CSAM, who is against the legislation, said that the fight against child abuse must be deeply improved and involve an all-encompassing approach that addresses welfare, education, and the need to protect the privacy of children, along with a "multi-stakeholder approach with the internet sector."

"Encryption," she said, "is key to protecting kids as well: predators hack accounts searching for images."

It's a position reflected in some of the concerns raised by the Dutch in ongoing negotiations on a compromise text at the EU Council, arguing in favour of a less intrusive approach that protects encrypted communication and addresses only material already identified and designated as CSAM by monitoring groups and authorities.

A Dutch government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The Netherlands has serious concerns with regard to the current proposals to detect unknown CSAM and address grooming, as current technologies lead to a high number of false positives."

"The resulting infringement of fundamental rights is not proportionate."


experts question the science behind it.

Matthew Daniel Green, a cryptographer and security technologist at John Hopkins University, said there was an evident lack of scientific input into the crafting of [the] regulation.

"In the first impact assessment of the EU Commission there was almost no outside scientific input and that's really amazing since Europe has a terrific scientific infrastructure, with the top researchers in cryptography and computer security all over the world," Green said.

AI-driven scanning technology, he warned, risks exposing digital platforms to malicious attacks and would undermine encryption.

"If you touch upon built-in encryption models, then you introduce vulnerabilities," he said. "The idea that we are going to be able to have encrypted conversations like ours is totally incompatible with these scanning automated systems, and that's by design."


In a blow to the advocates of AI-driven CSAM scanning, US tech giant Apple said in late August that it is impossible to implement CSAM-scanning while preserving the privacy and security of digital communications. The same month, UK officials privately admitted to tech companies that there is no existing technology able to scan end-to-end encrypted messages without undermining users' privacy.

The security and intelligence community have always used issues that scare lawmakers, like children, to undermine online privacy, Ross Anderson, professor of Security Engineering at Cambridge University, said.
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[Samson]

Chat Control
The European Union is attempting to push a Chat Control law which is similar to the KOSA legislation that is being pushed in the US.

It can be said to be some of the same forces who are behind this global push to take away our fundamental rights and freedoms.

It is messed up that this is getting so far, but I think it cannot work. Unless they criminalise maths you can always encrypt your messages. What could end up as a good solution has recently gone beta, though it seems like it has some serious issues still. Distributed systems like this have to be the solution anyway.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

There is a webinar being put on by some people who are knowledgeable about the upcoming legislation discussed in this thread. Instead of talking about the legislation, they have decided to discuss Internet privacy in general, and will be sharing their expertise in how you can better protect yourself online with minimal effort.

The 1-hour webinar will start in roughly 12 hours from when I am posting this message.

Direct link to the webinar
https://app.livestorm.co/threema/privacy-webinar/live?s=d3213ef1-a187-4696-b003-a3b1a0d21410

More info about the webinar
https://threema.ch/en/work/events/regain-privacy

The webinar starts at
08:00 Pacific Daylight Time
11:00 Eastern Daylight Time
16:00 British Summer Time
17:00 Central European Summer Time