Washington – The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark up the “Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies” (EARN IT) Act on Thursday, which would weaken the law companies rely upon to address objectionable activity online, commonly referred to as Section 230, in a misdirected effort to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online.
Ahead of the markup for the EARN IT Act, the Computer & Communications Industry Association joined 10 other associations and companies in a letter to Senate Judiciary leaders noting the problems it would exacerbate with internet user security and strong encryption while doing little to reduce the problems it purports to address.
CCIA has advocated for legal certainty for companies to remove nefarious and illegal content for more than 25 years.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President Matt Schruers:
“This bill chips away at the statutory framework that enables companies to remove nefarious and illegal content online. To stamp out abuse material, federal prosecutors must act on the tens of millions of pieces of content that digital services report to authorities every year. But the unfortunate reality is that these prosecutions have dwindled in recent years.
“By making the use of encryption a potential basis for liability, this bill will make users less safe online, and interfere with the removal of illegal content.”