Thank you to Jon Pincus and Hacking/Hustling for this action!

The EARN IT Act (S. 3398) is a new bill attempting to curb child sexual abuse material on the internet – but it would undercut key protections on Internet speech, and sex workers (along with privacy advocates) are leading the resistance. According to the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the bill would give Attorney General Bill Barr the power to compel service providers to break encryption and violate their users’ privacy to avoid liability.

The bill has bipartisan support: Lindsay Graham and Richard Blumenthal introduced it, while Dianne Feinstein is a big fan. And based on their past votes, our senators are likely to support it as well — unless they understand the significant problems this bill would cause in Internet freedom of speech.

Here are the web forms to contact our Senators; there’s an email template below (from Hacking//Hustling).

Sen. Murray: https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Sen. Cantwell: https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form

Script:

I’m writing to urge you not to support or co-sponsor the EARN IT Act, Senate Bill 3398, which is currently in the Judiciary Committee. This bill would compromise the security of people around the world, especially sex workers, LGBTQ people, and young folks, and compromise privacy and freedom of speech. Please oppose this bill.

Background:

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/earn-it-act-sex-workers-sesta-fosta/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/earn-it-act-violates-constitution