Why you should absolutely worry about the anti-privacy EARN IT Act

Because the internet is a strange and complicated place, the fate of your digital privacy is, at this very moment, intertwined with that of online message boards and comment sections. And things, we're sorry to report, aren't looking so hot.

At issue is the seemingly unrelated EARN IT Act. Pushed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and a host of bipartisan co-sponsors, and voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, the measure ostensibly aims to combat online child sexual abuse material. However, according to privacy and security experts who spoke with Mashable, the bill both directly threatens end-to-end encryption and promises to spur new and sustained online censorship by weakening Section 230 — a provision of the Communication Decency Act of 1996 that protects internet providers from being held liable for their users' actions. Read more...