The STOP CSAM Act of 2023 would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption and incentivize internet companies to take down lawful user speech. This dangerous bill would threaten security and free speech on the internet—but incredibly, it may pass Congress without even being seriously debated. Some lawmakers are seeking to attach this dangerous proposal to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the “must-pass” military budget bill.
As we’ve written before, the STOP CSAM Act would create new criminal and civil claims against online providers based on broad terms and low standards, and will undermine digital security for all internet users. It does three main things:
- It makes it a crime for providers to “knowingly host or store” CSAM or “knowingly promote or facilitate” the sexual exploitation of children, including the creation of CSAM, on their platforms.
- It creates a new civil claim and corresponding Section 230 carveout based on the lower standard of “recklessness”.
- It creates a notice-and-takedown system overseen by a newly created Child Online Protection Board.
Taken together, these provisions greatly endanger encrypted communications and protections that ensure platforms can operate. It harms internet users who rely on intermediaries to speak online—that is, all of us.
Providing Encryption Isn’t a Crime
This bill introduces the same misleading “encryption exception” found in the EARN IT Act, which we’ve written about at length. The exception purports to protect online platforms from liability for offering encrypted services, but it specifically allows the use of encryption to be introduced as evidence of the facilitation of illegal material.
If encryption can be introduced as evidence of the facilitation of illegal material, the bill potentially allows people to be sued or prosecuted for even merely providing an encrypted app. It’s likely that plaintiff
[…]
Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.
Read the original article: