Surveil, control, demonize: how “protect the children” laws are part of larger effort to restrict rights for vulnerable groups


Contributor(s)

Erica Portnoy


Session

Cryptography and Privacy in Context


Abstract

A new Texas social media bill promises “protection of minors,” while Mississippi lawmakers are taking aim at “material harmful to minors.” One bill in Congress, meanwhile, promises “kids online safety,” while another wants to “protect children suffering from abuse.” Despite the names, these bills will lead to censoring large parts of the internet, including LGBTQ+ content and information about gender identity, abortion, and trans support. They will be used to justify email surveillance and online speech filtering. This talk will highlight some of these bad bills, and explain how these measures are part of the same siege that is already depriving women, LGBTQ+ people, young people, and other vulnerable groups of their fundamental rights to free speech, expression, and assembly, to name a few. We’ll discuss how these efforts are part of a bigger trend of attacks perpetrated by lawmakers and organized groups with political agendas and power that seek to control and silence the less powerful, highlighting some of the very real consequences that we’ve already seen. We’ll conclude by touching on how cryptographers and scholars can help halt this horrifying trend.


Video