#fax your senators

[pilloclock]

US PRO PALESTINE PLEASE WATCH

Fax your senators ! They cannot ignore us 🇵🇸

Ceasefire now

[bunnie-the-idiot]

the kids online safety act passed the u.s. senate.

long story short (for anyone who hadn't heard of this before) the kids online safety act, aka kosa, is a bill that will censor online content and resources for lgbtq+ matters, reproductive healthcare, activism (INCLUDING PALESTINE AND LIKELY OTHER CRISES GOING ON LIKE IN CONGO OR SUDAN), mental health, etc. everywhere--its effects likely won't be contained to just america.

today, july 30th, 2024, the senate passed it 91-3. it has officially moved to the house of representatives.

is this a pretty massive setback? yes. do you have every right to be scared, sad, angry, or whatever else about this happening? absolutely. but should you give up hope completely? NO!

even though kosa passed the senate, the house is on break/august recess at the moment. we have around an entire month to get emails, calls, and faxes in to house reps, maybe more depending on when they decide to vote on it.

should it pass the house and get signed into law, we still have a whole 18 months before it actually goes into effect. this is plenty of time for digital rights orgs (e.g. fight for the future, the electronic frontier foundation) and other groups that oppose it to file a lawsuit against it. even if, worst-case scenario, it flies through the house immediately after the recess ends, we can still fight this up to march 2026.

so, yes, remember what's at stake here, but also remember that it's not over yet. we lost a battle, not the war.

below are some resources to learn more about kosa and how to contact your reps (first link) + a page that lets you directly contact progressive house reps, sign an open letter opposing the bill, and view others' testimonies against it (second link):

FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT.

[gwydionmisha]

11/30/23: KOSA is an anti-LGBTQIA+ censorship bill. It is essential you call THIS week. Tell them you are specifically against KOSA and especially against hotlining the bill.

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the Senator of your choice.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

[pineappleciders]

in the strike for palestine, please talk about it. please do not stay silent. even if you have zero followers, zero interaction, talk about palestine. reblog, like, comment, boost anything you can calling for ceasefire. do not buy anything that isn't a necessity.

you can email or fax your representatives and senators for free calling for ceasefire. keep doing your daily clicks, donate if you can, and do not keep quiet

IMPORTANT RESOURCES

how you can help palestine

daily click to donate

resources on palestine-israel history

what to boycott

what to boycott pt. 2

more resources

call for ceasefire

sudanese-led causes to donate to

esims for gaza

(US) email your representatives

(US) call your representatives

ceasefire action toolkit

NOTE: focus boycotting/pressuring products and companies stated by the BDS

[elhopper1sm]

Stop KOSA. KOSA just got passed through the House and More organizations even Twitter and Snapchat. Social media companies it aims to delete are coming out in support of it. This content creator has been covering KOSA for a long time. If you remember when AO3 was down how everyone freaked out. KOSA could take AO3 off the Internet. Could remove queer content online. The ACLU opposes it. It's unconstitutional call your Senators. Call your Representatives. Call everyone you can in power and tell them to oppose this bill. Sign petitions follow the link in that creators bio. Go to bad Internet Bills dot com and get call script or fax script for it. Contact the ACLU about suing states that support KOSA. We can still fight. End KOSA protect online safety!

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

Folks, what the Senate voted on was the cloture for KOSA. It's like a prelude, their way of deciding TO vote on it soon. Those many Democrat votes don't even represent whether they would vote for KOSA itself.

It still sucks, but I'm not letting anyone believe it fully passed yet and declare 'DoOm! Time to get the VPNs'. You can still fight this. Call, email, fax (that would really annoy the hell out of them) your senators and representatives.

There. Is. A. Chance.

Keep. Making. Noise!

[super-firepaw119]

Update on KOSA 5/23/24:

KOSA has passed through the Energy & Commerce Committee, but it’s not the end!!

Proof:

It may have passed the Committee, but don’t panic—We still have time to stop it!!

Continue to call/email/fax your two Senators & House Representative; tell them to vote “NO” to KOSA!

Make some noise, let them know we don’t want this!!

Can’t find your Representatives? This handy site helps you look them up: https://www.congress.gov/members?q=%7B%26quot%3Bcongress%26quot%3B%3A118%7D

Don’t panic. We still have time to stop KOSA!! The reason it hasn’t passed yet is due to how vocal we’ve been in opposition. Keep making noise—let them know we’re not okay with this.

Please spread this around! Stay strong. Keep fighting!!

[mollyjimbly]

🚨🚨The Senate vote on KOSA is either taking place today or tomorow.🚨🚨

We need all the noises possible to make it clear that this bill should either be fixed or stopped.

There's still the House next if it passes, do not give up. ❤️

Use this to call your reps :

What you need to write/say is right here.

You can also send faxes using this if you wish

We were able to push against KOSA for so long and its all thanks to our combined efforts. Let's keep it up ! ❤️❤️❤️

[taikeero-lecoredier]

RECENT UPDATES ON THE BAD INTERNET CALIFORNIA BILLS:

Sadly, both AB1949 and SB976 passed and are now on their way to the governors desk.

We need him to veto them so they dont become Law.

If you havent Heard of the danger of those bills for the Internet , this post explain it thoroughly :

- Post doing a deep explanation on those bills here

I CANNOT emphasize enough how these would have a global effect on the Internet given that most websites and apps originates from California and not all of them could afford either following those bills or moving states.

Now, as the bills are on their way to the governor, we need Californian citizens to voice their oppositions to those bills to the Governor Gavin Newsome HERE

(Non California peeps, we are urging you to share this as well!!! )

Please keep in mind that calling with phone is much,much more efficient.

You can also send faxes with Faxzero

Here are scripts you can use as arguments : (text/alt version below the read more )

Than you for reading. Even if youre not from California, please spread the word anyway ! Make posts,tweets,etc

REBLOGS ENCOURAGED

TEXT VERSION :

AB 1949

Hello, my name is (INSERT NAME HERE) and I'm one of the Senator's constituents from (INSERT CITY HERE). I'm calling to urge the Senator to vote NO on AB 1949, the amendment to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020. While this bill's intent is to prevent the sharing and sale of minor's information under the age of 18, the method it would intend to do so by is written far too broadly for it to be safely and reasonably implemented.

While this bill retains a safer standard of the business requiring actual knowledge of a consumer being under the age of 18 to be held liable for the sharing or sale of personal information, its wording is still too broad to exclude a default usage of age verification by online businesses in order to protect themselves from liability. Taking measures such as age verification, age assurance, or other data collection and analysis to determine the age of users. Even though measures like this have been proven to be vulnerable to data breaches no matter how secure they proclaim to be. Such as this year's largest discovered breach of AU10TIX, which supplies age verification to companies like TikTok, X, Uber, LinkedIn, Paypal, and many others.

As it stands, this bill is far too broad in its wording and enforcement of its age-specific measures to be considered a safe piece of legislation. Which is why I urge the Senator to vote in opposition to this measure.

Vote NO on AB 1949.

---------------------------

SB 976

Hello, my name is (INSERT NAME HERE) and I'm one of the Assembly member's constituents from (INSERT CITY HERE). I'm calling to urge the Assembly member to vote NO on SB 976, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act. Although this bill has intent to protect the mental and emotional health of California's youth, the method this bill would intend to use could be counterproductive to that goal, or even endanger them further.

One of this bill's primary measures includes requiring verifiable parental consent to allow websites to display “addictive” feeds to minor users. However, the ways “verify” the identity and age of a responsible parent are often invasive and dangerous. Especially since these methods have proven repeatedly to be vulnerable to data breaches that can leak sensitive information to bad actors. Such as this year's largest discovered breach of AU10TIX, which supplies age verification to companies like TikTok, X, Uber, LinkedIn, Paypal, and many others. To determine if this is necessary at all would also require collecting even more data on minors and non-minors alike to determine who would even require these measures to be set in place. Especially when it would have control over someone's access to a website or application based on the time of day, as this bill would require in order to “reasonably determine” the user is not a minor.

The vagueness of this bill's text at all is dangerous as well. The broad-spectrum definition it gives of “addictive internet-based service or application” could cause an unintended censorship effect where minors and adults alike could be blocked from accessing information purely because some part of a website or application uses a “feed” which could arguably fit the bill's definition of “addictive”

With all of this in mind, I urge the Assembly member to vote in opposition of this measure to protect the privacy and safety of California's minors and adults alike.

Vote NO on SB 976.

[audristarzz]

KOSA SENATE VOTE ON 7/30/24

hello everyone!! I am back with an update for KOSA. @super-firepaw119 made a recent post about this update so most of my information will be based on her recent post and thank you also for speaking on this update :)

On 7/25/24, KOSA was put on the senate’s procedural vote, meaning that they put an end to debating and will be going forward into voting.

As of today 7/27/24 KOSA has NOT passed the Senate. There still is opposition between senators and representatives, which is good. So until Tuesday (7/30/24) which is the Senate vote, im urging and begging you to call/ email and fax your reps and senators. Senate or House yet I recommend moving onto House now, (not trying to be a debbie downer!!)

the House has yet to vote , I don’t believe there is a date set for House vote yet but let’s try to stall and push it back for as long as we can and keep calling / emailing and faxing. With election year and what’s been going on in the presidential race I want to assume it might take a bit for it to get signed to the President and depending on what state your in it will take 18 months to go into effect. Kosa is also very unconstitutional so I recommend you to remind that to your senators and representatives as well as it being a danger to LGBTQ youth and will be a danger hazard when it comes to the government ID upload. And in August the senate will go into break , this is not over and I urge you to once again, call/ email and fax and spread the word around. Do not panic I know it’s scary right now but if we voice our opposition we can stop this bill. Thank you again to @super-firepaw119 again for the information and update. If I got any information wrong or accidentally spread misinformation please politely let me know and I will change this post asap

[hamadisthings]

BAD CALIFORNIAN INTERNET BILLS

While it is good that KOSA is now dead in the House (for now) I would like to ask for people's attention on AB1949 and SB976, which could push for Age verification by showing your ID.

There was a third bill named AB3080 that had similar goals, but luckily it received revisions so it is no longer a threat or require ID verification to access websites. So it would be possible to get AB1949 and SB976 to be revised so they aren't dangerous anymore.

You can read the text for AB1949 right here

AB1949 doesn't explicitly ask for ID verification anymore, as it used to, due to a revision, but there is a provision stating if they deem a website "willfully disregards" the age of the user they will be deemed to have actual knowledge of the user's age.

This broad part could be left to abuse, which is why it needs to be revised before passing, in order to confirm ID verification is not required. FIND YOUR REPS HERE!

For AB1949, you can find your Senate representative with the link above as I said, and check to see if they're a member of the CA Senate Appropriations Committee. Then call them to tell them you oppose this bill. Try to add reasons you think this bill would negatively affect California financially because that's what this committee focuses on.

As for SB976, which you can read here

Its goal is to "keep kids off social medias and addictive feeds" But the concerning part is that "it would make it unlawful for the operator of an addictive internet-based service or application, as defined, to provide an addictive feed to a user, unless the operator does not have actual knowledge that the user is a minor; commencing January 1, 2027, has reasonably determined that the user is not a minor; or has obtained verifiable parental consent to provide an addictive feed to the user who is a minor."

How are you supposed to know that you have "verifiable parental consent" without ID and age verification of both parents and child?Even then, holding the ID of a minor feels pretty illegal given how sensitive how an info this is, in case of a data breach (which will happen) this would endanger kids even more, and no one in general want to give their ID to access a website or an app.

The bill would also make it unlawful for a website or app to send notifications to a minor according to a certain timeframe.

For SB976, find your Assembly representative using the link below and check to see if they're a member of the CA Assembly Appropriations Committee. Then call them to tell them you oppose this bill. https://apro.assembly.ca.gov/members

You can tell them how this is terrible for privacy, and the safety of children, and that it would be terrible for the economy of California, as they seem to focus on it. You can try sending faxes for either bills, but calling IS MUCH MORE efficient. https://faxzero.com/

Here is the time schedule, bills must be taken care before the end of August so it is a matter of time crunch:

You may use the following scripts for the respective bills, you can try to trim it if you deem it too long!

Might be worth a shot to contact Gavin Newsom (Californian governor) here to voice your concerns for these bills

[pintadorartist]

1) a senate vote could happen as early as next week 2) this will censor Palestine 3) this will censor LGBT posts (see pic) 4) We need to send opposition to the Senate NOW. Call, email, and fax. 5) links to call (see below)

http://badinternetbills.com

http://stopkosa.com

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member kosa call script here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyBUe6frFGF44rJQU3TahZ5zyG3tC7jai_hPneAKlnM/edit

[taikeero]

THE INTERNET IS IN DANGER! FIGHT THE KOSA BILL !

PLEASE REBLOG AND SHARE THIS ANYWHERE YOU CAN !!!!!

CONTACT AND INFO MASTERPOST : https://linktr.ee/stopkosa

Read this post as well:  https://taikeero-lecoredier.tumblr.com/post/709890130733826048/these-twos-bills-are-very-bad-for-the-future-of#notes

Calling, sending emails, and faxing senators are important. I would also encourage anyone to make art or memes against the bill to spread the news further.

Please,call the following senators and tell them to oppose KOSA, you have a call script right here

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyBUe6frFGF44rJQU3TahZ5zyG3tC7jai_hPneAKlnM/edit#bookmark=id.lzykeihiqg70 Relevant things to say here : https://taikeero-lecoredier.tumblr.com/post/747489476713070592/stop-kosa-call-in-day-the-16th-april-2024#notes Maria Cantwell: 

( 202) 224-3441

Pelosi :

(202) 225-4965

Schumer :

(202)2246542

You may also use the following sites to contact your reps : https://www.stopkosa.com/ (Congress ) http://badinternetbills.com/ (Find your reps)  https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative (Find your House representatives)

(April 2024 update !!!^)

[gwydionmisha]

Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice. Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/ To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

KOSA SENATE VOTE UPDATE

The official senate vote is set to take place July 30th and then the senate goes on august break. If we can fight this bill and make sure it doesn't pass again, we'll have around a month before we have to fight it again!

So CALL AND EMAIL YOUR SENATORS!

This link below has a call and email masterpost with contact info for a few senators and 2 scripts (1 for democrat and 1 for republican) that works for calls, emails, and even fax! (yeah you can still fax your congress ppl. do with that info what you will) call and email and fax every day you can!

also, for my peeps that are still Minors, you can do all this too! you don't have to be an adult to contact your reps & senators! They don't even ask for your age! you especially need to be helping since this bill is trying to use you as a scapegoat and directly targets you. Don't let them unleash textbook fascism upon the internet in your name!

Spread the word! at the time I'm making this post (July 28th, 2024) we got a little under a day and a half to make as much noise as we can! SPREAD THIS LIKE WILDFIRE PPL

[super-firepaw119]

KOSA update 7/30/24:

I’m sorry to say, but KOSA passes the Senate final vote 91-3 & is now making its way to the House of Representatives but DO NOT PANIC—It’s not over.

Proof:

There is no set date for a House vote as of now & there is more opposition in the House.

So now, focus on your House Representative—Call/email or fax them, tell them to vote ‘No’ to KOSA & voice your concerns.

I know we’re all scared, but it’s okay; We still have time to stop it…and it very likely to get thrown out in court due to how unconstitutional it is.

Spread this around.

Keep calm & keep fighting!!