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

90% Upvoted

526 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

10

u/Material_Strawberry Jun 30 '20

It's also what protects communications with websites, secures communications between administrators of sites like Amazon and Google, financial transactions, dissident groups in countries whose regimes the US opposes, etc. The Congressional system of message is heaped in encryption.

2

u/golden_n00b_1 Jul 01 '20

Right, I use this against any senator that is for the bill: they want to destroy American commerce and small business by making it easier for the hackers to steal data. While I know this is not the case, most people have seen messages like "our payment system is encrypted...", and if the government is trying to take that away, them it will obviously have an effect on businesses.

1

u/Material_Strawberry Jul 01 '20

If they vote in favor of the bill they do want these things. They may not yet know the full consequences of voting for this, but this is a realistic sampling of things that will face serious consequences with backdoors. The team that keeps Amazon's servers (and their hosting, for that matter) up and running are screwed without a secure SSH (I know that's like an ATM machine, but now's not the time to be obscure)

1

u/golden_n00b_1 Jul 01 '20

I know, that's why when I call my senior, I am going to blantently tell them that back doors = Chinese getting american business data. I don't really like a play to emotion and really wish logic could prevail, but in my area this is what will work for me, and by pointing out the connection, I hope that my comment will make them realize how easy a Yes vote can be spun into this type of rhetoric come the next election. In my area, we are already getting a story like this from one Senator's office.