cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1835889

Evan Greer of Fight for the Future:

"If KOSA were actually a privacy bill as its supporters claim, we would be all about it," Greer told Ars. "We support cracking down on tech companies harvesting of data, we support an end to manipulative business practices like autoplay, infinite scroll, intrusive notifications, and algorithmic recommendations powered by commercial surveillance. What we don't support is a bill that gives state attorneys general the power to dictate what content younger people can see on social media. That's where KOSA goes off the rails and becomes a censorship bill, rather than a privacy bill."

If you're in the US, you can contact Congress using https://www.stopkosa.com/

Evan Greer of Fight for the Future:

"If KOSA were actually a privacy bill as its supporters claim, we would be all about it," Greer told Ars. "We support cracking down on tech companies harvesting of data, we support an end to manipulative business practices like autoplay, infinite scroll, intrusive notifications, and algorithmic recommendations powered by commercial surveillance. What we don't support is a bill that gives state attorneys general the power to dictate what content younger people can see on social media. That's where KOSA goes off the rails and becomes a censorship bill, rather than a privacy bill."

If you're in the US, you can contact Congress using https://www.stopkosa.com/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1560280

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is a bipartisan bill that lawmakers say is intended to stop online platforms from targeting and recommending harmful content to minors. It sounds good but it's supported by a slew of far-right, anti-LGBTQ organizations, and opponents are warning it will enable states to censor LGBTQ content by claiming it leads kids to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

If you're in the US, EFF has a page that makes it easy to Tell Congress: KOSA Will Censor the Internet But Won't Help Kids

And once you've done that, please consider calling your Senators and tell them to oppose the Kids Online Safety Act because it won't help keep kids safe and it'll harm LGBTQ teens. Here's a list of Senators' phone numbers.

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is a bipartisan bill that lawmakers say is intended to stop online platforms from targeting and recommending harmful content to minors. It sounds good but it's supported by a slew of far-right, anti-LGBTQ organizations, and opponents are warning it will enable states to censor LGBTQ content by claiming it leads kids to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

If you're in the US, EFF has a page that makes it easy to Tell Congress: KOSA Will Censor the Internet But Won't Help Kids

And once you've done that, please consider calling your Senators and tell them to oppose the Kids Online Safety Act because it won't help keep kids safe and it'll harm LGBTQ teens. Here's a list of Senators' phone numbers.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1170157

KOSA, the "Kids Online Safety Act", sounds good. Who doesn't want to keep kids safe? But as over 90 LGBTQ and human rights organizations said last year, KOSA would harm LGBTQ+ youth especially, and could be weaponized by Attorneys General to censor online resources and information for queer and trans youth, people seeking reproductive healthcare, and more.

And it's not just a hypothetical concern! This article from a couple months ago includes a screenshot of a Heritage Foundation tweet talking about how they'll KOSA to attack trans-related content -- because after all, they think that censoring trans-related content is "protecting kids".

So if you're in the US, please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose KOSA.

• EFF has a handy web form

• if you prefer the phone, you can call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The bill number is S. 1409. Your message doesn't have to be fancy: "KOSA won't keep kids safe" is enough if they're Republicans; if they're Democrats you can add "and it will harm LGBTQ+ teens".

• or, https://resist.bot/ lets you contact your legislators by texting or using Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp .

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1170157

KOSA, the "Kids Online Safety Act", sounds good. Who doesn't want to keep kids safe? But as over 90 LGBTQ and human rights organizations said last year, KOSA would harm LGBTQ+ youth especially, and could be weaponized by Attorneys General to censor online resources and information for queer and trans youth, people seeking reproductive healthcare, and more.

And it's not just a hypothetical concern! This article from a couple months ago includes a screenshot of a Heritage Foundation tweet talking about how they'll KOSA to attack trans-related content -- because after all, they think that censoring trans-related content is "protecting kids".

So if you're in the US, please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose KOSA.

• EFF has a handy web form

• if you prefer the phone, you can call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The bill number is S. 1409. Your message doesn't have to be fancy: "KOSA won't keep kids safe" is enough if they're Republicans; if they're Democrats you can add "and it will harm LGBTQ+ teens".

• or, https://resist.bot/ lets you contact your legislators by texting or using Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp .

KOSA, the "Kids Online Safety Act", sounds good. Who doesn't want to keep kids safe? But as over 90 LGBTQ and human rights organizations said last year, KOSA would harm LGBTQ+ youth especially, and could be weaponized by Attorneys General to censor online resources and information for queer and trans youth, people seeking reproductive healthcare, and more.

And it's not just a hypothetical concern! This article from a couple months ago includes a screenshot of a Heritage Foundation tweet talking about how they'll KOSA to attack trans-related content -- because after all, they think that censoring trans-related content is "protecting kids".

So if you're in the US, please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose KOSA.

• EFF has a handy web form

• if you prefer the phone, you can call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The bill number is S. 1409. Your message doesn't have to be fancy: "KOSA won't keep kids safe" is enough if they're Republicans; if they're Democrats you can add "and it will harm LGBTQ+ teens".

• or, https://resist.bot/ lets you contact your legislators by texting or using Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp .

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/1163015

EFF writes:

KOSA has laudable goals, but it also presents significant unintended consequences that threaten the privacy, safety, and access to information rights of young people and adults alike. Teenagers already understand that this sweeping legislation is more about censorship than safety. Now we just need to make sure Congress does, as well.

Take action! If you're in the US, Use EFF's page to Tell Congress: KOSA Will Censor the Internet But Won't Help Kids

And please help get the word out! Four ways to hep:

1. Cross-post this link to communities and magazines where it's on-topic
2. Upvote and share the other links in !bad_internet_bills@lemmy.sdf.org
3. If you're on Mastodon, check out the #KOSA hashtag and boost the posts you see there
4. Tell your friends on other social networks as well.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/1146007

If you're on kbin, Mastodon, Firefish, or some other fediverse platform that lets you follow people, here's some relevant accounts for this campaign -- and for other digitial rights issues.

The reply has suggestions for European advocates and organizations.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1138165

Coverage of the week of action in Common Dreams, with quotes from @evangreer@mastodon.online of Fight for the Future.

If you want to help, here are four easy ways:

1. If you live in the US, contact your legislators using Fight for the Future’s https://www.badinternetbills.com/
2. Upvote and boost posts in !bad_internet_bills@lemmy.sdf.org -- and cross-post them to other communities and magazines where they're on-topic
3. On Mastodon, boost posts on the #BadInternetBills and #KOSA hashtags
4. Get the word out on other social networks too

Coverage of the week of action in Common Dreams, with quotes from @evangreer@mastodon.online of Fight for the Future.

If you want to help, here are four easy ways:

1. If you live in the US, contact your legislators using Fight for the Future’s https://www.badinternetbills.com/
2. Upvote and boost posts in !bad_internet_bills@lemmy.sdf.org -- and cross-post them to other communities and magazines where they're on-topic
3. On Mastodon, boost posts on the #BadInternetBills and #KOSA hashtags
4. Get the word out on other social networks too

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/1101954

The "Kids Online Safety Act" (KOSA) is one of the Bad Internet Bills EFF is asking for help trying to stop. KOSA sounds like a good bill. Who doesn't want kids to be safe online? But KOSA wouldn't actually make kids safer -- and the way it's written would be especially harmful to LGBTQIA2S+ people.

As over 90 Human Rights and LGBTQ groups said in this letter the sent to Congress last year opposing KOSA:

"KOSA establishes a burdensome, vague “duty of care” to prevent harms to minors for a broad range of online services that are reasonably likely to be used by a person under the age of 17. While KOSA’s aims of preventing harassment, exploitation, and mental health trauma for minors are laudable, the legislation is unfortunately likely to have damaging unintended consequences for young people.

KOSA would require online services to “prevent” a set of harms to minors, which is effectively an instruction to employ broad content filtering to limit minors’ access to certain online content. Content filtering is notoriously imprecise; filtering used by schools and libraries in response to the Children’s Internet Protection Act has curtailed access to critical information such as sex education or resources for LGBTQ+ youth. Online services would face substantial pressure to over-moderate, including from state Attorneys General seeking to make political points about what kind of information is appropriate for young people.

At a time when books with LGBTQ+ themes are being banned from school libraries and people providing healthcare to trans children are being falsely accused of “grooming,” KOSA would cut off another vital avenue of access to information for vulnerable youth."

KOSA has.a markup session in the Senate next week, so now's a critical time to be telling Congress that we don't want this bad internet bill. So please help get the word out -- and if you're in the US, EFF's KOSA action page makes it easy to contact Congress

#BadInternetBills #KOSA #privacy