EARNIT Act Hurts Kids

EARNIT.

            Something that people following me, and a few others might have heard about. I know I’ve tweeted just a little bit about.

            But for those who are new, or are coming in unaware, let me give you a break down of what it is, and why you should care.

            EARNIT is a bipartisan bill written by Senators Blumenthal and Graham. Lindsay Graham. The claimed goal is that it will help protect children, and this is the bill to help children who are being sexually abused. Afterall, if we make website providers liable for any child porn that ends up on the site, that will solve the problem.

            This is in fact bullshit, and does not help children.

            By making website providers liable for child porn, this puts them in danger of going to court, rather than the child abusers. Instead of targeting individuals, the bill would rather target platforms, many of whom do report any instances of a user publishing child abuse materials. Websites like Pornhub have even gone to great lengths to change their policies to ensure abusers are unable to upload, and thus, have even needed to report less often than Facebook.

            Incidentally there was a similar bill not too long ago that made websites liable if there was sex trafficking they were aware of on their site. So, the websites made efforts to ban NSFW content, anything that could be considered sex work, and even links to masseuses. This was a pre-emptive measure to protect themselves from potential lawsuits if any of said content turned out to be sex trafficking. Note, the users were not the liable ones, the websites were. In turn, this led to mass banning of LGBTQ content, as well as removing safe ways for sex workers to filter and meet clients. It did not do anything to protect children or sex trafficking victims, but instead made things more dangerous while banning swaths of content.

            EARNIT is expected to cause similar effects to the internet, with websites like twitter and facebook instituting bans on anything that might be deemed inappropriate.

            Yet that’s not all.

            See, part of why there’s a lot of tech groups against EARNIT is because one way for websites to protect themselves from being liable is to scan everything a user posts or uploads, regardless of if it were private. Additionally, the suggested program is known for false positives which would lead to people getting banned or accused of spreading child porn for something completely unrelated. Or perhaps a minor living in a state known for abstinence education wants to learn more about their body. They could ask one of many sex ed professionals on twitter and youtube, only for the private conversation between the two to get pinged as the sex ed professional attempting to groom the minor. Additionally, the minor would learn that asking questions leads to others getting consequences, which leads to issues with learning more about the world.

            These are only a couple situations, but even think about your own posts. Your own writings. Your own art. Some of it might be uploaded to google drive or similar to share with friends. Yet all of it would be scanned to ensure it’s not abusive, by AI that can’t distinguish between what’s talking about kids, and what’s child abuse material.

            These scans would also end what’s known as end to end encryption. These are encryption methods that keep governments and hackers from looking at what you talk about. Whatsapp, Signal, and other apps use this to keep conversations private. Many use these messaging services to keep prying governments from seeing conversations that could get them in trouble, or to help get others out from bad situation. This could get children in trouble with the government, with parents, and make it harder for some kids to escape abusive situation. End to End encryption is important, not just for the sake of tech, but also for the sake of the children.

            Yet we’re still not done. On top of all of that, EARNIT also has an addendum about creating a commission, comprised of law enforcement and a few others, to determine how to protect children online. Law enforcement, some of you may note, that have done little to actually protect children, have sent children back into bad situations, and have a tendency to hate marginalized groups. This commission is set up to be biased, in a way that would only harm people of color, activists, and the LGBTQ community. All these groups are ones children belong to by the way.

            This commission could deem certain content inappropriate, creating yet another situation much like FOSTA-SESTA where websites ban certain topics in order to protect themselves from lawsuits. Sex education, LGBTQ resources, Black Lives Matter, these could all feasibly be banned under EARNIT, creating a restricted internet that only benefits the cisgender, heterosexual, white, male, Christian Conservative. This may sound like “woke whining” yet take a look at the laws DeSantis is trying to get passed in Florida, banning mention of LGBTQ people in schools. Take a look at a Tennessee schoolboard attempting to ban Maus. Look at all the attempts to ban books that challenge the Christian narrative. The GOP is trying to ban free speech, in insidious ways.

            On top of all that, EARNIT violates several Rights of a Child. For those who do not know, the Rights of a Child is a UN Human Rights Document from 1990. The United States signed it in 1995, but has not ratified it due to opponents claiming it would get in the way of “parent’s rights.” United States, as of 2015, is the only country that has not signed the Rights of a Child.

            What does this have to do with EARNIT? Well, under the Rights of a Child, not only do children have a right to not be trafficked, as well as a right to not have pornographic materials made of them, things that are already federally prosecutable, they also have a right to privacy, right to expression, right to not be discriminated against, and a right to learn from a wide variety of resources. All that has been discussed prior regarding restricted information, scanned messages, and end to privacy would violate those rights. Additionally by making websites liable instead of the individual abuser, it may also violate the right to not have pornographic materials made.

            Incidentally, this may all be in violation of laws currently in place in the EU as well as creating issues with other countries ratifications of the Rights of Child. Could I be wrong? Of course, I’m not a lawyer with a degree in international law. However, providers might find themselves jumping through all sorts of hoops to comply with both US law, and international law. It puts additional work on the provider, with the only gain seeming to be an end to encryption.

            In summary, EARNIT is a terrible act that would only harm children and marginalized folks. But how can you help? For starters, you can spread the word on social media. Sharing this article, as well as some of the articles linked would be a massive benefit. Use the hashtags EARNITAct, StopEARNITAct2022, or StopEARNITAct.

            Additionally you can use this form to send a letter to your senators, asking them to vote No. On top of that, you can continue to call and/or fax your Senators, demanding they say No. If your Reps are Democratic, perhaps point out the bill would not only harm children but aid the GOP in attacking marginalized groups. If your Reps are Republican, point out the bill not only harms children but would allow Dems to spy on Americans.

            The main point of the EARNIT Act is to end encryption, and destroy section 230. However, by pointing out that it doesn’t even complete its main selling point, we can put an end to EARNIT.

            We can save the children, the internet, and all those who use it.