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While the world seems to slow to a crawl in the midst of a pandemic, the United States Senate does not.
Thursday, March 5, Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the bipartisan Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act, usually referred to by the abbreviated name, EARN IT. The bill would create the National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention, led by the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission. This commission would be in charge of creating a series of “best practices” that all websites must follow in order to minimize the online sexual abuse of children. Any website that fails to follow these best practices would lose protections vital to all that feature user-submitted content, granted by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Passed in 1996, Section 230 outlines that websites which allow for user-submissions should not be treated as a publisher. This protects websites from legal retaliation if a user posts something illegal, though exceptions such as for copyright violations exist, enabling websites such as social media sites, which give anyone the power to share anything on their minds, the comments sections on news websites or reviews on shopping websites. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called Section 230 “one of the most valuable tools for protecting freedom of expression and innovation on the internet.”
Privacy activists have repeatedly spoken out against EARN IT, citing that it will not improve websites’ effectiveness at combating the exploitation of children. A similar act, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, shortened to FOSTA was passed in April 2018 and was intended to protect online sex workers, but according to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle half a year later, related crimes in San Francisco tripled in that period, because workers were forced off the internet back into the streets.
Other critics cite that EARN IT doesn’t do anything to increase protections. The sexual exploitation of children is a federal crime, an area not protected by Section 230. The Department of Justice can already prosecute any website enabling abuse, so websites are already doing everything they can to avoid and remove any violating content.
Though the bill’s co-sponsor Senator Blumenthal denies it, the biggest criticism of the bill is the potentiality for it to weaken encryption. Blumenthal correctly claims that “This bill says nothing about encryption.” The bill never actually uses the word “encryption” but the commission the bill would create would have the power to weaken encryption. Encryption and its importance are covered in the Today’s Technology column in issue 13 of the Etownian. Furthermore, the Attorney General would hold the power to veto or approve any of the best practices suggested by the other members of the commission, and the current Attorney General, William Barr, has said that encryption is a huge safety threat.
Activists of internet privacy and tech companies alike are fighting against the EARN IT act by trying to inform the Senate about what is already being done to combat child sexual abuse and by working with legislators to inform law enforcement of the powers they already have.
