I See This Stupid New Section 230 Bill, And I Say It's A Stupid Section 230 Bill

from the file-that dept

Another day, another truly terrible bill to "reform" Section 230. This is another "bipartisan" bill, which should be a reminder that bad Section 230 ideas are happening across the entire spectrum of political ideologies in Congress. It's being released by Senator Joe Manchin along with Senator John Cornyn, and it's obnoxiously called the See Something Say Something Online Act. I do wonder if they licensed that term, because it was the NYC Metropolitan Transit Association who holds the trademark for "see something, say something" and is notoriously litigious about it. Indeed, the DHS program under the same name "licensed" the name from the MTA, though I still fail to see how either has anything to do with "commerce."

As a side note, before we get into why this bill is so, so bad, let's just note that the whole "See Something, Say Something" concept has been thoroughly and comprehensively debunked as a reasonable approach to law enforcement or stopping crime. Indeed, all "See Something, Say Something" has been shown to accomplish so far is to stuff massive databases full of useless information of people spying on each other.

Now, to this actual bill. It's worse than ridiculous. It's yet another one of these bills that seems to think that it can blame any and all societal ills on Section 230. In this case, it's trying to blame the internet and Section 230 for any kind of criminal behavior with a focus on illegal opioid sales. I know that this is an issue that Manchin has been vocal about for years (and for good reason, West Virginia appears to regularly have the highest overdose rates of any state in the country). But blaming the internet, or Section 230, for that is ridiculous and will not help stop the problem.

And yet, Manchin seems to think he can magically deal with the opioid problem by creating a massive regulatory burden for the internet in a very dangerous manner. The basics are that it would require any website that "detects a suspicious transmission" to submit a "suspicious transmission activity report" or "STAR." What is a "suspicious transmission" you ask?

The term "suspicious transmission" means any public or private post, message, comment, tag, transaction, or any other user-generated content or transmission that commits, facilitates, incites, promotes, or otherwise assists the commission of a major crime.

So... that's preposterously broad. If some comment spammer shows up in the Techdirt comments and posts some nonsense "promoting" drugs, I would have to file an official report with the DOJ? This would be an incredible burden for nearly any website.

And how would it be judged if that suspicious activity was "known" by the platform? Again, we get a very, very, very broad definition:

The term "known suspicious transmission" is any suspicious transmission that an interactive computer service should have reasonably known to have occurred or have been notified of by a director, officer, employ, agent, interactive computer service user, or State or Federal law enforcement agency.

So... if they claim that a website should have known, that's enough that the website has to file one of these crazy reports. Or if basically anyone merely claims something on a website is loosely related to a crime, the website is then required to file one of these STAR reports. Do the staffers who wrote this bill have no clue how many false reports are made every damn day?

And it's not just the websites. The bill would open up this STAR process directly to anyone. This is where it takes the problematic "See Something, Say Something" concept to ridiculous new heights:

The agency designated or established under [this law] shall establish a centralized online resource, which may be used by individual members of the public to report suspicious activity related to major crimes for investigation by the appropriate law enforcement or regulatory agency.

In other words, the government would set up a snitch database that will undoubtedly be filled with useless junk or people claiming that they saw some "illegal" garbage online that is unlikely to actually be illegal. Just the fact that this encourages people to snitch on others to the DOJ seems problematic enough.

The bill also appears to have a built in gag order, preventing any website from disclosing information about the STARs they've filed with the government. That's a huge blow to transparency. In fact, the bill also says that all of these reports are exempt from any FOIA request.

Of course, all of that is the "new" stuff. The change to 230 is that it would be amended to say that if any website fails to submit he required STARs, then they lose Section 230 protections and may be held liable for the underlying "suspicious transmission."

There are many, many, many problems with this whole bill. It would be massively burdensome to every website that hosts any form of user generated content. I don't think we (or any blog, honestly) could reasonably continue to host comments with this law on the books. We'd have to police all of our comments closely, and with the structure of the bill giving no leeway, we'd be compelled to file these snitch reports to the DOJ on any possibly "suspicious" comments, with suspicious being defined so broadly that merely talking about some sort of crime would necessitate us filing. That's an impossible standard.

Of course, this wouldn't do anything useful. It wouldn't help law enforcement discover crime rings online, because this STAR database would certainly be overwhelmed with garbage, just like every other "See Something, Say Something" database. Also, the fact that it requires websites to report on private information means it will require websites to snoop on private messages, and turn them over to law enforcement. That raises some fairly significant 4th Amendment concerns, by turning private companies into arms of law enforcement.

So, it wouldn't fix anything, would create a massive snoop database for law enforcement, would encourage people to snitch on anything "suspicious" and to force websites to file these useless reports -- while also likely shutting down many user forums online (especially those centered around helping those with drug addiction problems). In other words, it's yet another garbage Section 230 reform bill.

Someone please make these stop.

Filed Under: intermediary liability, joe manchin, john cornyn, opioids, say something, section 230, see something, see something say something, suspicious activity

Senators Continue To Point Out Our Broadband Maps Suck

from the do-not-pass-go,-do-not-collect-$200 dept

For a country that likes to talk about "being number one" a lot, that's sure not reflected in the United States' broadband networks, or the broadband maps we use to determine which areas lack adequate broadband or commpetition (resulting in high prices and poor service). Our terrible broadband maps are of course a feature not a bug; ISPs have routinely lobbied to kill any efforts to improve data collection and analysis, lest somebody actually realize the telecom market is a broken mono/duopoly whose dysfunction reaches into every aspect of tech.

If you want to see our terrible broadband maps at work, you need only go visit the FCC's $300+ million broadband availability map, which is based on the Form 477 data collected from ISPs. If you plug in your address, you'll find that not only does the FCC not include prices (at industry behest), the map hallucinates speed and ISP availability at most U.S. addresses. Part of the problem is that the FCC declares an entire region "served" with broadband if just one home in a census tract has service. Again, ISPs fight efforts to reform this in a bid to protect the status quo.

Only when states are jockeying for broadband subsidies is this problem even brought up in DC, so as states vie for $4.7 million in wireless broadband subsidies via the FCC's Mobility Fund Phase II, the problem has been seeing renewed attention.

Back in August, Montana Senator Jon Tester took these criticisms to a new level, bluntly insisting the FCC's maps "stink" and that we really have "got to kick somebody's ass" to get the problem fixed. Like Tester, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin also isn't impressed and has been trying to challenge the FCC's historically terrible coverage maps. This week Manchin again pointed out that our US broadband maps are terrible, while noting he was the only member of Congress to actually formally challenge them:

"Manchin argued the map does not accurately show broadband coverage in West Virginia, leaving some out of receiving reliable and affordable broadband. Rural areas were getting screwed, and all of West Virginia was getting screwed because these big-time carriers were showing, ‘Oh, this is our area. We’ve got it taken care of, don’t worry. They’re only going to go into areas where they know that they’re going to have a return on an investment. It’s no different than electricity back in the 1930s."

Therein lies the problem. Incumbent ISPs see no reason to deploy broadband into countless areas (rural and urban) country wide because they either don't see a good return on the investment, or the unyielding need for quarterly improvements mean they don't see a return quickly enough for Wall Street's liking. And while that's certainly understandable, at the same time incumbent ISPs do everything in their power to prevent cities from wiring themselves either, most notably via the 21 protectionist laws ISPs have quite literally written and purchased that ban towns and cities from exploring more creative solutions.

That's particularly true in Manchin's West Virginia, which we've long noted is the poster child for US broadband corruption and dysfunction, thanks in large part to regional incumbent telco Frontier Communications.

Last year, the ISP fired a seven year employee because, at his part-time job as West Virginia senate leader (note how nobody in the state thought that was a conflict of interest), he voted for a new law that would actually help improve broadband penetration and competition in the state. Frontier has also been under fire for the better part of the last decade over allegations that the ISP routinely rips off taxpayers and has wasted millions in past subsidies by intentionally misrepresenting how that money was spent.

So while it's great that Manchin is the only Senator that actually cares about the country's broadband maps, terrible broadband maps are just a symptom of a much broader problem Manchin tap dances around: corruption and cronyism. Even the most well-intentioned US lawmakers routinely let some of the least popular, monopolistic companies in America dictate both federal and state telecom policy, then stand around with an idiotic look on their faces as they wonder what could have possibly gone wrong.

Filed Under: broadband, broadband map, competition, fcc, joe manchin

Rep. Polis Asks Treasury To Ban Dollar Bills, Mocking Senator's Request To Ban Bitcoins

from the you-win dept

Last week, we wrote about the technologically clueless grandstanding Senator Joe Manchin's bizarre request to the Treasury Department and the Fed that it figure out a way to ban Bitcoin. Almost everything in Manchin's letter was ill-informed, right down to his ridiculous assertion that we need to copy Thailand and China (who haven't really banned Bitcoin) to get ahead of this "trend." Of course, as we noted, along with a whole bunch of factual inaccuracies, almost all of Manchin's complaints applied equally to cash.

So, in response to a totally technologically clueless elected official, up steps Rep. Jared Polis, perhaps the most technologically knowledgeable elected official out there, with a counterproposal. He basically rewrote Manchin's letter, but replaced Bitcoin with the dollar bill, highlighting the sheer absurdity of Manchin's request.

I write today to express my concerns about United States dollar bills. The exchange of dollar bills, including high denomination bills, is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly subject to forgery, theft, and loss. For the reasons outlined below, I urge regulators to take immediate and appropriate action to limit the use of dollar bills.

By way of background, a physical dollar bill is a printed version of a dollar note issued by the Federal Reserve and backed by the ephemeral “full faith and credit” of the United States. Dollar bills have gained notoriety in relation to illegal transactions; suitcases full of dollars used for illegal transactions were recently featured in popular movies such as American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club, as well as the gangster classic, Scarface, among others. Dollar bills are present in nearly all major drug busts in the United States and many abroad. According to the U.S. Department of Justice study, “Crime in the United States,” more than $1 billion in cash was stolen in 2012, of which less than 3% was recovered. The United States’ Dollar was present by the truck load in Saddam Hussein’s compound, by the carload when Noriega was arrested for drug trafficking, and by the suitcase full in the Watergate case. 

Unlike digital currencies, which are carbon neutral allowing us to breathe cleaner air, each dollar bill is manufactured from virgin materials like cotton and linen, which go through extensive treatment and processing. Last year, the Federal Reserve had to destroy $3 billion worth of $100 bills after a “printing error.” Certainly this cannot be the greenest currency.

Printed pieces of paper can fit in a person’s pocket and can be given to another person without any government oversight. Dollar bills are not only a store of value but also a method for transferring that value. This also means that dollar bills allow for anonymous and irreversible transactions.

The very features of dollar bills, such as anonymous transactions, have created ubiquitous uses from drug purchases, to hit men, to prostitutes, as dollar bills are attractive to criminals who are able to disguise their actions from law enforcement. Due to the dollar bills’ anonymity, the dollar bill market has been extremely susceptible to forgers, tax fraud, criminal cartels, and armed robbers stealing millions of dollars from their legitimate owners. Anonymity, combined with a dollar bills’ ability to finalize transactions quickly, makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse fraudulent transactions.

Many of our foreign counterparts already understand the wide range of problems that physical currencies can have. Many physical currencies have enormous price fluctuations, and even experience deflation.  20 years ago Brazil had an inflation rate of 6281%.  In 4 years (2001 to 2005), the Turkish Lira went from 1,650,000: $1 to 1.29 to $1. In 2009, Zimbabwe discontinued it’s dollar. Before it was eliminated, the Zimbabwe dollar was the least valuable currency in the world and their central bank even issued a $100 trillion dollar banknote. A person would starve on a billion Zimbabwe dollars and it took an entire wheelbarrow full of $100 billion dollars in notes to purchase a loaf of bread.

The clear use of dollar bills for transacting in illegal goods, anonymous transactions, tax fraud, and services or speculative gambling make me wary of their use. Before the United States gets too far behind the curve on this important topic, I urge the regulators to work together, act quickly, and prohibit this dangerous currency from harming hard-working Americans.

Sincerely,

Jared Polis
Member of Congress ​

This is, to put it mildly, absolutely hilarious. I imagine that we'll see some traditionalists bitch about a Congressional rep using satire to mock a colleague, but that's just silly. This makes the point better than any boring letter or speech would ever do. And, considering that Rep. Polis has no problem wearing this on the House floor, I get the feeling he really doesn't care at all what "traditionalists" think of his actions around Congress.

Filed Under: bitcoin, currency, jared polis, joe manchin, parody, satire