Earn It Act

The Earn It Act empowers Big Tech.

We have already witnessed the partisan bias of Big-Tech and the Earn It Act will essentially empower Big Tech to become the right arm of Big Brother. On the surface it claims to be all about protecting children, which is a justifiable reason for legislation, but this bill is NOT the solution we need or want. Big Tech can not be trusted and this Act is nothing more than the government becoming better bedfellows with the sites and apps that everyone uses to communicate. It puts the onus on the Internet service providers to do everything in their power to prevent the exchange and distribution of child porn, renamed (CSAM) Child Sexual Abuse Material. In doing so Big Tech is being given authority to access your private online activities and interactions. Their unbounded license to ignore privacy laws is actually proposed as a contingency to remaining protected from their own prosecution as a publisher.

If the Earn It Act were nothing more than a quid pro quo agreement to stamp out child porn, its opposition would fall on deaf ears, but so much more is at play. First, we can not rely on Big Tech to use this access uniquely for the prevention of CSAM; they have a history of overstepping their authority. But worse, the bill suggests that law enforcement (Big Brother’s left hook), have a built in backdoor access to all communication. All fully encrypted sites, apps, sources would have to write into their main program a means of accessing all data, and provide this access to law enforcement. making everyone open to scrutiny, robbing people of their privacy and freedom to communicate.

The Earn It Act also will do nothing to protect the child exploitation that occurs outside of the Internet. Relatives and teacher’s who abuse their position are not likely to be stupid enough to be distributing CSAM over the Internet. Not to mention that recent criminal cases involving Jeffery Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell, have surely shed light on the fact that the rich and powerful don’t need the internet to fuel their lustful exploitation of children.

Indeed, with the Earn It Act and its focus on CSAM, the government is willfully avoiding giving resources to the many other ways children are exploited. Is it by design that these rich and powerful lawmakers are holding themselves out as protectors of the innocent when their ACT actually enables other child exploitation by diverting resources? Or is it really,more insidious, like so many recent government power expansions, and not actually about protecting any children at all, but rather to be used to backdoor spying on every citizen who uses an app or the internet to exchange information with anyone? The government is guilty of an abuse of powers, putting constitutional rights on hold for mandates they themselves often ignored. How much worse could this get when private conversations are no longer private ? Imagine if someone’s angry venting is used against them for a conviction of hate crimes, or sedition ?

We have been witness to the abuse of the power of tech and media companies who control the narrative and cancel or vilify anyone with a counter opinion. Can we trust these companies, who abuse their power in relation to public commentary, with sanctioned access to our private interactions? If the Earn It Act is passed by the power hungry bureaucrats who fear non-compliance from their citizens, how long until the once highly encrypted protections on banking and other sensitive data can be easily hacked because of built in access points? And then with the movement away from real cash to digital currencies; how long before your life savings disappear?

There is a better alternative to protect kids

Unfortunately, the Earn It Act is just another bureaucratic nightmare, proposing a 19 member panel of The Attorney General, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and someone from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), with 16 additional politician appointed “experts” in child exploitation, consumer protections, and computer security. Better to adopt the alternative proposal the Invest in Child Safety Act which would focus on empowering, and funding law enforcement specifically to Enforce and Protect Against Child Sexual Exploitation. This would be headed by people with a proven background (experience) in prosecuting and investigating these crimes. The idea is to literally invest in the current organizations that are in the business of protecting children and going after their assailants. The groups involved would be focused on protecting children. addressing missing children, street kids, as well as helping identified victims. It wouldn’t overlook the Internet problem either, with a two fold attack proposed to go after CSAM. First $15 Million, and more jobs are proposed for the technologically competent engineers and analysts who weed through technology company leads on CSAM content discovered online, And another $60 Million for an Internet Crimes task force to hunt down and bring in the perpetrators. Obviously the Invest in Child Safety Act is a superior proposal for protecting children and our rights….but are you going to do anything to stop the Earn It Act from being the one that is implemented?

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