this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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KOSA and other Bad Internet Bills (US-specific for now)

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Red alert! For the last six months, EFF, Fight for the Future, ACLU, Woodhull Foundation, and dozens of other groups have been sounding the alarm about several #BadInternetBills that have been put forward in Congress. We’ve made it clear that these bills are terrible ideas, but Congress is now considering packaging them together—possibly into must-pass legislation. We're organizing to keep them from sneaking these bad internet bills through.

This community is for news stories, opinion pieces, and action links about these bad internet bills. Please help get the word out!

And if you use microblogging software like Mastodon, please also check out the #BadInternetBills hashtag.

Icon originally from Why we need to openly protest KOSA on Five Nights at Freddy's Wiki, used by permission.

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The House passed the bill by a vote of 106 to 13, with many Democrats joining the chamber's Republican majority in support of the bill. It now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate for consideration.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Right. How do you enforce this? Or is it one of those things where if someone is harassing someone else, and they are found to be a minor, then someone can be prosecuted? Would it be the parents? The platform for failing to have an Age Line charm as impenetrable as Dumbledore's?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Florida House Bill 1 would prohibit children under the age of 16 from using most social media platforms, regardless of parental approval.

The social media platforms the bill would target include any site that tracks user activity, allows children to upload content or uses addictive features designed to cause compulsive use.

How would this even work? Let's take a closer look at the first 2 clauses of the second paragraph:

A student portal for accessing lessons and submitting assignments would require tracking activity and uploading content. If that system is accessible to students or anyone else from anywhere other than direct connection to the school LAN, then it would be in contravention of this law.

Or let's say someone puts up a self-hosted, restricted-access system for extended family to stay in touch without using a commercial or public system (something I'm in the process of doing). Allowing teenagers to use that site would put them on the wrong side of the law.

Brain damaged authoritarian nut jobs...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

"Many teens today leverage the internet and apps to responsibly gather information and learn about new opportunities, including part-time jobs, higher education, civic or church gatherings, and military service," Meta representative Caulder Harvill-Childs wrote to the House Judiciary Committee

Okay, whether or not you favor this bill, this counterpoint is so disgustingly republican attuned that it makes one want to put their head through a wall.