Senators Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) have reintroduced the massively unpopular EARN IT act, originally proposed in 2020, back onto the Senate docket. As of February 10th, the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to advance the bill to the Senate floor. From here, the bill will be voted on by the full senate.

The EARN IT act was pitched as a tool to hold tech companies accountable for the spread of content exploiting children. The bill removes a lot of protections tech companies currently hold under Section 230, opening them up to the possibility of lawsuits over content shared on their platforms and devices. Despite its seemingly noble ideals, the bill in its current form will help nobody. All it will do is help the government institute the surveillance state they want so desperately. 

The goal of the bill is to get states to pass regulations that would allow private companies under hire by the government to punish tech companies for utilizing encryption to hide user data. The bill also aims to create a 19-person commission that would determine the “best practices” to end the problem of child abuse on the internet. This will inevitably lead to online service providers being compelled to scan and filter user data using government-approved software like PhotoDNA. This practice has received criticism from civil rights advocates, industry groups, and LGBTQ rights organizations who are concerned that the regulations will lead service providers to remove legal speech to avoid persecution by the commission. The most popular form of encryption currently is end-to-end encryption, where data is encrypted as it leaves a sender and is only decrypted as it reaches the recipient. There is a large concern that companies could be taken to court over claims of illegal behavior by users, and the simple fact that they utilize end-to-end encryption at all could be used as evidence to convict them. More than 60 human rights organizations came together and sent a group letter to the committee urging them to abandon the bill amid concerns about online privacy and free speech. 

Critics of the bill have been quick to point out the fact that Section 230 already does not protect online service providers from prosecutions related to CSAM (child sexual abuse material). Internet service providers are already required to report CSAM when it is detected. These companies make thousands of reports a day, but this number does not necessarily directly correlate to the amount of CSAM found on the internet. Many platforms, such as Facebook, have instituted blanket scanning techniques that have led to an inflated report count as bots flag non-CSAM material as harmful. Law enforcement has used this inaccurate number to suggest that the amount of CSAM on major platforms has skyrocketed in recent years. These same groups are the ones calling for the removal of encryption through the EARN IT act.

Many critics have pointed out that the bill provides a lot of surveillance but not a lot of protection. Several independent child protection experts have made it clear that the removal of blanket encryption and scanning of private messages will not help the situation; it could even worsen it. The main concern is that if the government can see all activity on the internet, it won’t be long until predators tap into that service. These independent experts have implored senators that children, especially those who are already in an abusive situation, need privacy online to be truly safe. No one on the internet, particularly the most vulnerable members of our society, can have the safety and security they deserve without the strong encryption that the EARN IT act seeks to remove.

Supporters of this bill want you to believe that it’s all for the children, that tech companies are immoral behemoths with complete legal immunity, and that the EARN IT act will finally bring them to justice. What the bill actually presents is a future where privatized companies working for the government scan through the data of every individual, treating everyone as a presumed criminal who deserves to have all of their private information scanned and cataloged in government databases. And this is assuming that the committee for best internet practices will stay apolitical. In all likelihood, the government will not pass up the opportunity to identify people who disagree with them or do not fit into the government’s idea of an ideal citizen. This bill will give the government the power to silence you based on your political leanings, your stance on big issues, your sexuality, gender identity, race, or anything else. If you are deemed to be breaking “best practices”, then they will have the legal right to remove your 1st amendment rights.

This bill cannot pass if we hope to keep our rights to privacy and security on the internet. The senators pushing this are crafty and know about the bill’s unpopularity with the public. Therefore, if they can, they will try to smuggle the bill into law inside a “Must Pass” legislative package like a Trojan Horse. You can take action by contacting your senator and telling them to vote against the Earn It Act. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has set up a website to help you locate and contact your local representative, located at: https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-earn-it-act-to-save-our-privacy

For the safety of not just our children, but of all of us, this is where we need to take a stand against the removal of our rights.