Banning Tik-Tok

[Berzerker]

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/text?s=1&r=15

IN GENERAL.—A person who willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, or willfully conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of an unlawful act described in subsection (a) shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $1,000,000, or if a natural person, may be imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.

This attack on free speech is bipartisan

But this bill is not limited to Tik Tok, the language would allow an unelected bureaucrat to decide what speech will be allowed and what speech could land you in prison for 20 years. The crime? Spreading 'misinformation' for a foreign adversary. For example, expressing opposition to the war in Ukraine. I dont know if that charge would require proof of an association with the 'foreign adversary' or if it applies to anyone taking a position contrary to US policy regarding foreign policy. I suspect it means you're getting $$$ or something of value from said foreign adversary, but regardless this BS will end up in the courts the 1st time someone gets convicted.

[giblets]

(a) In general.—The Secretary, in consultation with the relevant executive department and agency heads, is authorized to and shall take action to identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate, including by negotiating, entering into, or imposing, and enforcing any mitigation measure to address any risk arising from any covered transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States that the Secretary determines—

(1) poses an undue or unacceptable risk of—

(A) sabotage or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of information and communications technology products and services in the United States;

(B) catastrophic effects on the security or resilience of the critical infrastructure or digital economy of the United States;

(C) interfering in, or altering the result or reported result of a Federal election, as determined in coordination with the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Treasury, and the Federal Election Commission; or

(D) coercive or criminal activities by a foreign adversary that are designed to undermine democratic processes and institutions or steer policy and regulatory decisions in favor of the strategic objectives of a foreign adversary to the detriment of the national security of the United States, as determined in coordination with the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Treasury, and the Federal Election Commission; or

(2) otherwise poses an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the safety of United States persons.

Oh boy.

[Geronimo]

Who watches the watchers? Apparently not the 4th estate, coverage of this has been minimal.

[BeBMan]

Oh boy.

I understand the secretary poses an undue or unacceptable risk of interfering in sabotage or subversion in United Staes persons???

[PLATO]

Reading that bill makes me believe freedom is dying.

[giblets]

Being smothered with a pillow as we speak.

[Stantroll]

1.58

[Dinner]

Banning Tik Tok is an excellent idea but the bill doing it has to be written just right. If it grants expansive new powers then the bill should be opposed. If it is very narrow dealing with only CCP infiltration, influence, and intelligence activities then great.

[Berzerker]

150 million Americans use it to communicate

[Dinner]

Reading that bill makes me believe freedom is dying.

It is pretty clear this is not the narrowly focused bill I was hoping for. Instead it is worse than the Patriot act and even has a sentence of up to 20 years simply for using a VPN.

https://youtu.be/C6AynjtnJG8

[pchang]

We have met the enemy and he is us.

[giblets]

150 million Americans use it to communicate

But it's Chinese, they're being subliminally influenced to use chopsticks and worship pandas.

[BeBMan]

150 million Americans use it to communicate

many are also using the emails.

[Geronimo]

But it's Chinese, they're being subliminally influenced to use chopsticks and worship pandas.

I don't think xenophobic instincts are in play this time. Pretty sure it's cold war style insecurities. There is literally no culture that the authoritarian rival superpower could have which would give its data mining social apps a pass for this congress.

[Berzerker]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1642384601418199040

Matt Tiabbi on the Restrict Act

The Restrict Act... Dont they usually hide their restrictions behind noble sounding names like The Patriot Act? We'll never get rid of that, the security state just keeps growing and to hell with the Constitution.

[Berzerker]

LIndsey Graham was on Jesse Watters and got an earful about this effort to censor the internet. Lets just say if Watters is pushing back he's not alone, the guy is a corporate hack. Graham's performance was transparently insincere, first he said there were two bills and he supported the one constitutionally limited to Tik Tok. Right, constitution. What a fraud.