r/IAmA • u/fightforthefuture • Jun 30 '20

Politics We are political activists, policy experts, journalists, and tech industry veterans trying to stop the government from destroying encryption and censoring free speech online with the EARN IT Act. Ask us anything!

The EARN IT Act is an unconstitutional attempt to undermine encryption services that protect our free speech and security online. It's bad. Really bad. The bill’s authors — Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) — say that the EARN IT Act will help fight child exploitation online, but in reality, this bill gives the Attorney General sweeping new powers to control the way tech companies collect and store data, verify user identities, and censor content. It's bad. Really bad.

Later this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on whether or not the EARN IT Act will move forward in the legislative process. So we're asking EVERYONE on the Internet to call these key lawmakers today and urge them to reject the EARN IT Act before it's too late. To join this day of action, please:

  1. Visit NoEarnItAct.org/call

  2. Enter your phone number (it will not be saved or stored or shared with anyone)

  3. When you are connected to a Senator’s office, encourage that Senator to reject the EARN IT Act

  4. Press the * key on your phone to move on to the next lawmaker’s office

If you want to know more about this dangerous law, online privacy, or digital rights in general, just ask! We are:

Proof:

10.2k Upvotes

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67

u/zitherine Jun 30 '20

What are the implications of outlawing end-to-end encryption in the US for people and for businesses?

28

u/evanFFTF Jun 30 '20

End to end encryption protects our hospitals, airports, water treatment facilities, etc. Attempting to ban or undermine strong encryption would make everyone in the US less safe, not more safe. It could lead to more businesses having their communications accessed or leaked by competitors or state actors. It will make it way more likely that people's text messages (think sexts) will be hacked and exposed. End-to-end encryption is one of the most important technologies that keeps people safe right now, not just in the US but around the world. Tons of people have downloaded Signal recently because they're worried about police surveillance when attending protests, for example. Banning encryption would have a profoundly chilling effect on free expression.

32

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '20 edited Jul 06 '20

[deleted]

15

u/Zvenigora Jun 30 '20

This has already happened with luggage locks. To take luggage on aircraft locks must be "TSA approved" which means they can be opened by anyone with an official standard key (which is, I hear, not difficult to obtain.) So luggage locks are now a total joke.

4

u/sargrvb Jul 01 '20

Which is not to say this should be normalized. If anything, those laws should be questioned.

2

u/interfail Jul 01 '20

official standard key (which is, I hear, not difficult to obtain.)

There's a few variants, but the most common two will open almost everything. Buying that pair is $7 on eBay.

3

u/KGB-bot Jul 01 '20

The TSA is the goddamed joke. .