Below is my post that I wrote for This Week in Privacy to hopefully be discussed on air.
If you live in the US, call your reps. This is becoming more and more real. I left info on what you can say in the post below.
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This may be a big ask but can you point out where in each bill or as applicable is the contention with privacy? I see your comment in the other thread but it would be hard for one to read for themselves of the exact concern you’re trying everyone to act upon.
If you are able, please point out within the bills (line wise) for us to have a look ourselves. Thank you!
Apologies to the TWIP crew for how I worded my post! When I said “this is our Chat Control” what I meant was that this is our big moment of needing to fight back against a huge downgrade for our privacy in the US. I don’t think it’s on the same level as Chat Control, but with the main threat being the tying of your identity to all that you do in the digital world, it’s pretty close.
To you’re point, the two main bills that I am concerned about are the Kids Online Safety Act and the App Store Accountability Act.
As I understand it, KOSA would promote censorship of the internet and could lead companies down the path of having to do age verification to comply. EFF has a page on contacting your reps about it.
For the App Store Accountability Act, if it’s like the state laws that recently went into effect in Texas, it would require age verification to use the app store on iOS or Android. This bill brings that idea to the national level.
I am not familiar with the other bills that are going to be reviewed, but the overall concern about not wanting to erode our right to privacy in the context of another problem still holds true. Hopefully I can find a good source to help comb through this as it gets discussed.
My hope to is to end these efforts sooner rather than later. For me, 2025 was a year of finding out about bad laws going into effect way after they were signed into law, so I am trying to get ahead of future legislation when I can. In this case we’re talking about federal legislation, so there is no escaping it just because you live in another state.
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Reminder that if any of the bills that will be presented in the hearing tomorrow concern you, you should call or email your US House rep today.
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This sounds like an important proactive measure. But I’m not American, the most I can do is bump this thread.
Perhaps the staff could share this on Twitter to reach a broader audience?
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Thankfully other places have started to pick the story a bit more.
I saw Fight for the Future is doing a whole week on online ID checks this week, probably coinciding with the hearing tomorrow.
They have this website to campaign against these laws, which looks great and should be shared broadly.
Fight for the Future also has an action toolkit for those who want to do more. Seems like there are good ideas for anyone to try, but it seems geared toward creators and organizations.
The Verge also published an article on the trend which is seeing a surge in importance this week.
If you’re in the US and you’ve called your representation, spreading awareness with the campaign website Fight for the Future has provided seems like a great next step. Then dig into the toolkit.
Today was the hearing by the Energy & Commerce Committee to cover all of the “child online safety” bills that have been proposed in the House. Of the four witnesses, one was Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project, with the Center for Democracy and Technology. She was on our side, but there were several points that all of the witnesses could agree on.
Fight for the Future actually did a livestream commentary of the hearing as it happened which was very interested to listen to! If you have time and want to listen to something in the background, I recommend it. They give you a peek behind the curtain to better understand how activism and lobbying happen for this kind of legislation and how tough it can be to get anything passed, let alone stopping bad legislation or submitting good legislation.
I don’t know if you will think this is good or bad, but for as dire as things looked going into this hearing, the group in the livestream said this was the most positive hearing on something like KOSA ever. The only reason it seems like the Representatives are more interested in the privacy, security, and speech implications of these bills is because of the overwhelming pressure that Americans have put on Congress this year. If you have called your congressional representatives, good job and keep it up!
Speaking of, FFTF shared another site on their social media to make it easier to contact your representatives! It’s very digestible and goes over more than just the problems with online ID checks. Even if you don’t want to sign the petition, considering using these points and calling your representatives directly.
For good measure, here are the takeaways from FFTF themselves:
Some key takeaways from today’s hearing:
-Many acknowledged that Senate KOSA is a threat to free expression.
-Bills discussed have similar issues to KOSA, esp online ID checks.
-The bad idea that surveillance + censorship will keep kids safe online drove the discussion.
KEEP AT EM!
Week isn’t over! I think the hearings will continue tomorrow.
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