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

Fri Mar 13 10:37:29 PDT 2020

  Hi Aaron,
First thought is Thank you.
This is typical chicanery from the Legislative  branch
and the Corona virus is giving it cover as you state
below.  The site seems to be getting a very high
response so I will get back to it later.

They must intend to illegalize the iPhone, etc. encryption.
This is just the latest attempt by certain parties who would
prefer a totalitarian state.

Bobbie Sellers

On 3/13/20 10:12 AM, aaronco36 wrote:
> 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
>
>
> ======================================================
> REFERENCES
> ======================================================
> [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
> ======================================================
>
> aaronco36 at sdf.org
>
> Quote that was never ever made until now:
> "Firefox now defaults to DNS-over-HTTPS for US, Oh My!!"
>
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