Will threatening online platforms with liability help prevent online child sexual exploitation effectively or will it hurt free speech and privacy?
This bill would create a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention of 19 appointed officials headed by the Attorney General. The commission would create a set of best practices to prevent the online sexual exploitation of children that online service providers (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) would have to comply with. If the service providers are unable to certify compliance or implement other reasonable practices to prevent exploitation, they would lose their Section 230 liability exemption: this means that noncompliance would allow states and other individuals to sue online platforms for individual user content that sexually exploits children. An amendment proposed and passed on July 2, 2020, would not include encryption as a condition that could increase liability for companies; however, some critics still say that states can interpret child sexual exploitation standards differently and create disincentives to provide encryption services that would hurt individual user privacy. The bill also broadens previous bills concerning child pornography to encompass child sexual exploitation.
Sponsor: Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina)
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How do you feel?
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Opponents say
• "But looking at the additional language it’s clear to me that this is still going to be a vehicle for the attorney general to wage his war on encryption. And it's kind of a black box. One of my fears is if this were implemented, what’s to stop China from saying 'in addition to monitoring for child sex abuse images, turn this on for Uighur freedom activists too.'" Source: Riana Pfefferkorn (Associate Director of Surveillance and Cybersecurity, Stanford Center for Internet and Society)
• "This bill is a transparent and deeply cynical effort by a few well-connected corporations and the Trump administration to use child sexual abuse to their political advantage, the impact to free speech and the security and privacy of every single American be damned." Source: Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon)
• "[The amended] EARN IT Act replaces one set of problems with another by opening the door to an unpredictable and inconsistent set of standards under state laws that pose many of the same risks to strong encryption." Source: Mike Lemon (Senior Director, Internet Association)
• "We believe that the EARN IT Act not only jeopardizes privacy and threatens the right to free expression but also fails to effectively protect children from online exploitation." Source: Human Rights Watch
Proponents say
• "Simply put, tech companies need to do better. Tech companies have an extraordinary special safeguard against legal liability, but that unique protection comes with a responsibility. Companies that fail to comport with basic standards that protect children from exploitation have betrayed the public trust granted them by this special exemption. Online platforms’ near complete immunity from legal responsibility is a privilege – they have to earn it – and that’s what our bipartisan bill requires." Source: Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut)
• "Technological advances have allowed the online exploitation of children to become much, much worse over recent years...Our bill would allow individuals to sue tech companies that don’t take proper steps to prevent online child exploitation, and it’s an important step to protect the most vulnerable among us." Source: Senator Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California)
• "This bill is not about encryption and it never will be." Source: Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut)
- Graham, Blumenthal, Hawley, Feinstein Introduce EARN IT Act to Encourage Tech Industry to Take Online Child Sexual Exploitation
- Chairman Graham Applauds Senate Judiciary Committee for Unanimously Approving the EARN IT Act (Senate Judiciary Committee)
- Online privacy experts sound alarm as US Senate bill sparks surveillance fears (The Guardian)
- Why your privacy could be threatened by a bill to protect children (CNet)
- A weakened version of the EARN IT Act advances out of committee (The Verge)
- Congress proposes anti-child abuse rules to punish web platforms — and raises fears about encryption (The Verge)
- Senators dispute industry claims that a bill targeting tech’s legal shield would prohibit encryption (CNBC)
- Senators introduce controversial bill to combat child sexual exploitation online (The Hill)
- The EARN IT Act is a Sneak Attack on Encryption (Wired)
