from the obnoxious dept
In the past, whenever Senator Richard Blumenthal has been called out for his many terrible legislative ideas regarding regulating technology and the internet, he has a habit of dismissing all of the concerns by claiming the complaints are only coming from “big tech lobbyists.” He did this a few years ago with FOSTA, which has since proven to be exactly the disaster many of us warned Senator Blumenthal about at the time. This time around, he’s going straight to the same playbook again, and it’s good to see that he’s getting some pushback. Nathalie Maréchal, from Ranking Digital Rights has published a great piece over at Tech Policy Press: No, Senator Blumenthal, I am not a Big Tech Lobbyist.
Ranking Digital Rights is about as far from a “big tech lobbyist” as you can find. The organization has been advocating for the FTC to ban targeted advertising, which is basically the key way in which both Google and Facebook make the majority of their money. And yet, it also recognizes the dangers of EARN IT.
The article notes that over 60 human rights groups signed a detailed letter highlighting the many problems of the bill. For Blumenthal to simply dismiss all of those concerns — put together by respected groups who are in no way “big tech lobbyists” — shows his pure disdain for facts and unwillingness to put in the effort to understand the very real damage his bill will do should it become law.
It’s shameful behavior for a US senator, even if not surprising.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: criticism, earn it, encryption, good faith, lobbyists, richard blumenthal
Source link
