Undead EARN IT Act poses newly urgent threat to press freedom
Via Freedom of the Press Foundation
After public backlash led to a major defeat in 2020, lawmakers [led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Lindsey Graham], have re-introduced the dangerous EARN IT Act; Now attempting to rush the anti-privacy legislation through the Senate.
The EARN IT Act, a fundamentally anti-encryption bill targeting the cornerstone of Internet law, is on the fast track for a Senate vote after an earlier version collapsed amid widespread backlash from pro-privacy organizations. Two years ago we described the bill as a “threat to press freedom,” an assessment that applies just as accurately to the current legislation.
EFF has published a tool to allow U.S. residents to contact their senators and urge them to oppose this dangerous bill. Fight for the Future has also rolled out an easy way to contact lawmakers about the bill.
The reintroduced version is in some ways worse than the draft that attracted such vehement pushback two years ago, but could be rushed through to a vote before meaningful opposition can reassemble. Expert analysis suggests it would be worse than useless at its stated goals:
At the same time, it would wreak havoc on critical components of online infrastructure, such as strong encryption and established legal safe harbors.
Bills that complicate the deployment of strong encryption are bad for journalists, who must rely on broad privacy protections to communicate with sources and to conduct investigative research.
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This work licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution International License
