KOSA and other Bad Internet Bills (US-specific for now)

Fight for the Future writes:

"The controversial and unconstitutional Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is officially dead in the House of Representatives. Reporting indicates that there was significant opposition to the bill within the Republican caucus, and it faced vocal opposition from prominent progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep Maxwell Frost (D-FL)."

Evan Greer:

"KOSA was a poorly written bill that would have made kids less safe. I am so proud of the LGBTQ youth and frontlines advocates who have led the opposition to this dangerous and misguided legislation. It’s good that this unconstitutional censorship bill is dead for now, but I am not breathing a sigh of relief. It’s infuriating that Congress wasted so much time and energy on a deeply flawed and controversial bill while failing to advance real measures to address the harms of Big Tech like privacy, antitrust and algorithmic justice legislation. "

Thanks to everybody who took action ove the last year to stop this bill!

Pushover consumers accepted “Know Your Customer” abuses to their 4th Amendment rights in the banking sector, so why wouldn’t the same work when it comes to internet service? I have no doubt that the privacy apathetic masses will accept this in a heartbeat.

Legislators are considering attaching KOSA (the anti-LGBTQ+ censorship bill, aka the Kids Online Safety Act) to must-pass legislation authorizing the FAA. As EFF points out, the latest version of KOSA is still a censorship bill.

So if you're in the US, it's once again a good time to contact your Congresspeople. EFF's got an action here that makes it makes it easy, and so does https://www.stopkosa.com/

if you’re in the US, now’s a great time to contact your Senators. You can either call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or use the Senate directory to look up your legislators’ contact info.

“Stop the FBI from expanding warrantless surveillance of innocent Americans. The House reauthorization contains the largest expansion of FISA Section 702 since it was created in 2008. Please oppose it -- and please oppose any attempt to reauthorize FISA Section 702 that doesn’t include warrant requirements, both for Section 702 data and for our sensitive, personal information sold to the government by data brokers.”

I'm not wild about the headline -- it's the Biden administration that's pushing for this bill, so why let them off the hook? It's one of those rare issues that cut across partisan lines, with reformers and surveillance hawks in both parties working together. Still, the article makes some very good points.

The legislation, which would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, includes a provision that would broaden the types of businesses that agencies can compel to help the government spy without a warrant..... The fact sheet says the change closes “a dangerous loophole,” and calls it a “carefully crafted and narrowly tailored fix.”

But experts say the provision is extremely broad — and that it could potentially allow agencies to enlist office landlords, security guards, and cleaning crews as spies, without a warrant, and demand they help the government tap into communications equipment to facilitate data collection.

Not a good result. The good amendment to add a warrant requirement failed on a tie vote; bad amendments to expand the scope of warrantless wiretapping passed. Next step: a Senate vote.

EFF's update also has a handy form to contact Congress. Their summary:

"Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted against considering a largely bad bill that would have unacceptably expanded the tentacles of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, along with reauthorizing it and introducing some minor fixes. Section 702 is Big Brother’s favorite mass surveillance law that EFF has been fighting since it was first passed in 2008. The law is currently set to expire on April 19.

Yesterday’s decision not to decide is good news, at least temporarily. Once again, a bipartisan coalition of law makers—led by Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Jerrold Nadler—has staved off the worst outcome of expanding 702 mass surveillance in the guise of “reforming” it. But the fight continues and we need all Americans to make their voices heard. "

Well it wasn't just Trump loyalists; it was 19 Republicans in the Freedom Caucus (who are indeed Trump loyalists) and almost all the Democrats voting agains bringing the current bill to the floor. Now what?

"Congressional sources tell WIRED they have no idea what the next steps will be."

Oh.

That's not good.

This week the House is set to vote on legislation to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA 702”), along with a set of amendments. One of these amendments — put forward by House Intelligence Committee leads Mike Turner and Jim Himes — would expand warrantless FISA surveillance dramatically: While falsely billing itself as a minor definitional tweak, in reality the amendment would be the largest expansion of FISA since Section 702 was created in 2008. It could be used to enlist an array of sensitive facilities — such as offices for nonprofits, political campaigns, and news organizations — to serve as hubs for warrantless surveillance.

if you’re in the US, now’s a great time to contact Congress. You can either call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or use the House directory to look up your legislators’ contact info.

“Stop the FBI from expanding warrantless surveillance of innocent Americans. OPPOSE the FISA amendment from Reps. Turner and Himes, which would be the largest expansion of FISA since Section 702 was created in 2008. And please oppose any attempt to reauthorize FISA Section 702 that doesn’t include warrant requirements, both for Section 702 data and for our sensitive, personal information sold to the government by data brokers.”

It’s still not clear just what will get voted on. So, if you're in the US, now's a great time to contact Congress. EFF’s action Tell Congress: Absent Major Changes, 702 Should Not be Renewed has as a form that will connect you nd provides talking points. Or if you’d rather contact them directly, here’s a short script:

“Stop the FBI from spying on innocent Americans. Please fight for a vote to reform FISA’s Section 702 with warrant requirements, both for Section 702 data and for our sensitive, personal information sold to the government by data brokers. And please oppose any attempt to reauthorize FISA Section 702 that doesn’t include both of these critical reforms.”

You can either call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or use the House directory to look up your legislators’ contact info.

A long analysis by Quinta Jurecic

"This story isn’t over yet. If KOSA passes in the Senate, the bill will still have to make it through the House—potentially a tall order given the ongoing dysfunction in that chamber. Meanwhile, reporting suggests that the bill’s path toward a Senate vote has already been delayed thanks to jockeying among senators seeking to move forward their own, separate legislative proposals for tech regulation and child safety. In that sense, at least, all of this is politics as usual."

“The current plan is to run FISA as a standalone the week after Easter,” Johnson said during an interview at the GOP retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. That timing would put a vote the week of April 8, when the House is slated to return from a two-week recess.

That commitment runs contrary to some fears that Johnson might attach a short-term extension of Section 702 to a government funding bill that leaders hope to clear next week. That possibility has caused significant heartburn for privacy hawks, who are hoping to make changes to the current law before reauthorizing.

At a private meeting about the reauthorization of a major United States surveillance program late last year, the Republican chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee presented an image of Americans protesting the war in Gaza while implying possible ties between the protesters and Hamas, an allegation that was used to illustrate why surveillance reforms may prove detrimental to national security,

Detailed reporting on the sleazy tactics suveillance hawks in Congress used to sabotage this week's vote on FISA Section 702 reform. It really is a bipartisan issue: the the House Intelligence Committee's Chair Mike Turner (a Republican) and Ranking Member Jim Himes (a Democrat) worked together on this, although Himes is now trying to distance himself.

EFF's take on the amended version of KOSA. TL;DR summary:

We are asking everyone reading this to oppose this latest version, and to demand that their representatives oppose it—even if you have already done so.

They've unveiled a new version, with some improvements. Fight for the Future's statement (not quoted in the Washington Post, of course, which is a mouthpiece for tech) says "we are glad to see the attorney general enforcement narrowed" but also notes that "As we have said for months, the fundamental problem with KOSA is that its duty of care covers content specific aspects of content recommendation systems, and the new changes fail to address that." So it's still a bad bill.

But just because they're claiming they have the votes in the Senate, it's not a done deal yet -- and it still has to go through the House. So, if you're in the US, call your legislators! https://www.stopkosa.com/

The good news is that the secret session of Congress didn't happen so they didn't sneak something through behind closed doors. Thanks to everybody who took action! and it now looks like the House won't be voting on Section 702 this week.

Elisabeth Goitein of Brennan Center has an excellent Xitter thread here describing it as HPSCI (House Intelligence Committee) leaders (who oppose reforms and want to broaden surveillance) forcing Speaker Johnson to cancel the floor vote. She suggests they'll try to get weak language into the continuing resolution, and if that happens we should be ready to make some noise.

Then again, as @dell@journa.host of Wired suggests on Bluesky, if they don't take action by April 19, the FISC (FISA Court) can just extend certifications for a year, so that's also a way they can delay reforms. We may also need to make some noise to demand a vote.

So stay tuned!!!!

#FISA #section702 #surveillance

Patrick Eddington has a good summary:

"Unlike the House Judiciary Committee bill passed by that body in December by a 35-2 bipartisan margin, the new bill 1) does not mandate a warrant before FBI personnel can sift through the FISA Section 702 database for information on U.S. Persons and 2) still allows federal law enforcement agencies to buy data on U.S. Persons from data brokers--no warrant required.

The bill also allows for FBI agents to go through the Section 702 database for information "relevant to an existing, open, predicated full national security investigation.""

There were reports that intelligence agencies will have a secret briefing for Congress this afternoon, although Eddington now says it might not happen. In any case, a vote is expected Thursday.

If you're in the US, now's a critical time to contact your legislators. This issue crosses party lines, so even if your representatives usually don't listen to you, they'll be paying attention to the number of calls they get on this one! Eddington has instructions on how to do it via Congress' site, or Demand Progress has a handy web page.