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Stop KOSA. Why the KOSA Bill is Dangerous and Should be Rejected (www.stopkosa.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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KOSA is a bill that aims to protect children online but it would do so in harmful ways. First, it would pressure platforms to install content filters that would censor large amounts of content, including important suicide prevention and LGBTQ+ support resources. Content filters have a history of overblocking important information. Second, KOSA would ramp up online surveillance of all users by expanding age verification and parental monitoring tools. These tools are unnecessarily invasive and pose risks to young people trying to escape abuse. Over 90 rights groups agree that KOSA is dangerous and cannot be fixed through amendments. If you value a free and open internet, contact your lawmakers to reject KOSA.

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[–] 11 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (3 children)

Because some folks really seem to like power? And emotion is a solid button to press because a lot of folks are irrational monkeys.

Edit: most - > a lot of

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  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I like the phrase "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely".

    KOSA is not the only thing one should be worried about, illiterates from UK are bringing in an Online Safety Bill which needs all services with encryption to provide a backdoor for the UK government under the reasoning of "monitoring for CSAM content".

    This doesn't just impact UK citizens, but will do for the world.

    If I recall correctly, Australia did something similar.

    Interesting to see how the 5-eyes try to push similar dumb ideas together.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    Australia did something recently, yes. It's called the AA Bill. And it allows for the government to demand a worker put a backdoor in to an encryption product. The absolutely stupid thing is that if the government does this, the worker can't tell a soul about it for fear of prison. If (when) it comes up in code review, they're still not allowed to tell anyone. If they do, it's straight off to prison. Where does it stop. I was hopeful that tech companies would abandon australia when this happened, but they didn't. They just rolled over and took it up the arse pipe. Fucking hell. This is a good write up

    That's not even mentioning what google is trying to do currently.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    What in the name of fuck is that bill. That's one of the worst pieces of legislation I've seen in a longer while. Companies and open source communities will immediately catch that an employee is trying to sabotage their system on behalf of the government by means of code review and version control history. The programmer will be questioned, then likely fired or ostracized in case of open source works and the code will hit the bin. This idiotic... thing will accomplish nothing but harm their own citizens who will now be treated like potential therats and denied employment opportunities.

    On a funnier note, every time Australia introduces some horrible tech-related bill I remember this beautiful clip summarising just how well politicians understand technology.

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