[sf-lug] Please help stop the Graham-Blumenthal Attack on Encryption

[aaronco36]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) came out with a news release item 
yesterday that the EARN IT Bill Is the Governments Plan to Scan Every 
Message Online [1]

Quoting the top of [1]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Imagine an Internet where the law required every message sent to be read 
by government-approved scanning software. Companies that handle such 
messages wouldnt be allowed to securely encrypt them, or theyd lose legal 
protections that allow them to operate.

Take Action[2]
Stop the Graham-Blumenthal Attack on Encryption

Thats what the Senate Judiciary Committee has proposed and hopes to pass 
into law. The so-called EARN IT bill[3], sponsored by Senators Lindsay 
Graham (R-GA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), will strip Section 230 
protections[4] away from any website that doesnt follow a list of best 
practices, meaning those sites can be sued into bankruptcy. The best 
practices list will be created by a government commission, headed by 
Attorney General Barr, who has made it very clear he would like to ban 
encryption, and guarantee law enforcement legal access to any digital 
message.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Directly quoting the top section of S. 3398 from [3]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To establish a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation 
Prevention, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of 
Interactive Technologies Act of 2020 or the EARN IT Act of 2020.

SEC. 2. Definitions.

In this Act:

(1) COMMISSION.The term Commission means the National Commission on Online 
Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention.

(2) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE.The term interactive computer service has 
the meaning given the term in section 230(f)(2) of the Communications Act 
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)(2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


But quoting [5] for 'Red Herring' regarding the bill's "other purposes":
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in 
an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the 
original issue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And also quoting from the selfsame [5], as contextually _very_ 
appropriate(!) to the purported goal of establishing a "National 
Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention...":
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...for politicians, red herrings come in handy as they use them frequently 
to dodge difficult questions in a discussion or an argument. They do it by 
referring to a different issue, which of course is irrelevant, to 
sidetrack from the original issue under discussion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Indeed, as quoted from the EFF's prior news release 'The Graham-Blumenthal 
Bill Is an Attack on Online Speech and Security' from [4]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bill deals with the very serious issue of child exploitation online, 
but it offers no meaningful solutions. It doesnt help organizations that 
support victims. It doesnt equip law enforcement agencies with resources 
to investigate claims of child exploitation or training in how to use 
online platforms to catch perpetrators. Rather, the bills authors have 
shrewdly used defending children as the pretense for an attack on our free 
speech and security online.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Is it conceivable that the authors and backers of the Graham-Blumenthal 
Bill are possibly hoping for the extensive and ongoing newsmedia's 
coverage of the Coronovirus COVID-19 pandemic to successfully divert the 
public's attention away from this bill??

Again, one of the current links to help Stop the Graham-Blumenthal Attack 
on Encryption is the EFF Action Center's 
https://act.eff.org/action/protect-our-speech-and-security-online-reject-the-graham-blumenthal-bill 
[2].

Further thoughts on this from Rick M, Michael P, Bobbie S, and/or other 
folks reading this, including from prior and relevant SF-LUG threads and 
postings (e.g., the thread from less than 3yrs ago 'Keep Border Patrol and 
HS agents out of your computing devices'[6]) ??

-A


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REFERENCES
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[1]https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/earn-it-bill-governments-not-so-secret-plan-scan-every-message-online
[2]https://act.eff.org/action/protect-our-speech-and-security-online-reject-the-graham-blumenthal-bill
[3]https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3398/text
[4]https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/graham-blumenthal-bill-attack-online-speech-and-security
[5]https://literarydevices.net/red-herring/
[6]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2017q2/012572.html
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aaronco36 at sdf.org

Quote that was never ever made until now:
"Firefox now defaults to DNS-over-HTTPS for US, Oh My!!"