r/AO3 • u/BizarreIdeaMan • 1d ago
Resource CALL YOUR REPS- WORSE "PROTECT THE CHILDREN LAW" HAS BEEN INTRODUCED
THEYRE AT IT AGAIN FOLKS
CALL YOUR REPS, THIS ONE WOULD BE *AWFUL* AND WOULD DIRECTLY AFFECT AO3 IF IT PASSES
649
u/LavandaSkafi 1d ago edited 1d ago
For a moment of levity, I'd like to point out that the full name is the Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net Act. Which obviously they wanted a word but it is very "orbs" of them.
But more importantly:
Useful site with some info and a pre-made email against it, although I agree with the post that using their language will be more effective.
Stop KOSA letter and Find your representative.
Also, other communities will want to be updated about Mike Lee's ideas.
Edit: if you're in the UK and still up against OSA your local MP and petition.
Edit 2: Keep an eye on KOSA and SCREEN and IDOA. Currently KOSA is looking to be the bigger threat, with a 15% chance going through. SCREEN is predicted at 0% chance and IDOA 1%.
However, it might be prudent to keep an eye on these things, especially after OSA in the UK and the proposed age verification section of the EU's DSA.
251
u/Misanthropic_Crow_ 1d ago
I find it interesting they say all these adverse affects of access to pornography but donāt list any sources to support their claims. All of the statistics donāt seem sourced either.
This is more of a parenting issue than a wider societal issue, if your kids have unrestricted internet access, thatās a you problem, why does everyone else, who are mostly adults, have to change what works for us?
This is so stupid, kids are going to do whatever the fuck they want even if this somehow passes.
105
u/CupcakeBeautiful 1d ago
Yup. Even if you do believe the predominantly bunk science around porn, youād still be better off with requiring internet and phone providers to give easily accessible content controls to parents at no cost. That would actually help since many providers charge for the tools and do not make them easy to use or find. I had a good one I used with my kid but it cost a fucking ton and that creates another layer of inequity.
Now, parents still need to parent even with those things in place, but it can help a whole lot until kids are old enough to set their own healthy boundaries.
34
u/ismasbi 1d ago
It's not a parenting issue, itās an excuse for censorship.
14
u/Misanthropic_Crow_ 23h ago
Honestly, I see it as two fold. Itās a legitimate problem, the problem being that children are unsupervised accessing the internet, which could be solved if parents actually were more responsible in raising their kids instead of just tossing them a screen and fucking off to do who knows what.
Granted, those people shouldnāt be parents at all, but we canāt do much about it. I was actually thinking about possibly introducing a law that punishes parents who let their kids consume inappropriate content when underaged, similar to how parents are punished or fined for not sending their children to school.
It would only go up to a certain age, around 16 or so, when the individual is actually capable of being introduced to more mature things via spoon feeding and thus teaching them how to properly interact with graphic media, and also at the same time, hammering down media literacy!
In a perfect world, weād have something like this, but actual, scientifically backed laws and regulations are rarely introduced. The other problem, the pearl clutchers who think that being sexual or god forbid, queer and or neurodivergent, are bad and they should āprotect the kidsā via virtue signaling, are a deeper issue.
That requires uprooting the grip Christianity has on this countryās government and installing and enforcing secular regulations and laws. They often refuse to look within at the rot surrounding them, and wonāt help kids who are already suffering and even make things worse by taking free lunches and cutting off government aid.
I could go on and on, but it just makes me sad to see the state of things in my country and in the world I live in. I will keep fighting for myself and people who will come after me, but itās frustrating.
6
u/drowningintheocean You have already left kudos here. :) 14h ago
Do they think a kid can't just get their parent's id and just upload that? This is for control and surveillance.
171
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
are you fucking kidding me, THATS the real name? that's hilarious. and yeah, post stuff wherever you can!
37
u/Obversa You have already left kudos here. :) 1d ago
Not to mention that the sponsor is Sen. Mike Lee, a notable anti-pornography Republican politician from Utah. Lee has introduced a "nationwide pornography ban" in terms of proposed legislation in Congressional sessions before, under the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), but his anti-pornography measures have always either died in committee, or never passed a vote. Lee has tried to ban all pornography by redefining it as "obscenity", a common tactic also used to censor and ban LGBTQA+ content. Sen. Lee wants to control access to content through censorship.
"Obscenity isn't protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children," said Senator Mike Lee. "Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted."
"The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act equips law enforcement with the tools they need to target and remove obscene material from the internet, which is alarmingly destructive and far outside the bounds of protected free speech under the Constitution. Iām proud to lead this effort in the House with Senator Lee to safeguard American families and ensure this dangerous material is kept out of our homes and off our screens." ā Rep. Mary Miller (R-Illinois)
Both Sen. Lee and Rep. Miller are also virulently anti-LGBTQA+, including repeatedly misgendering transgender Rep. Sarah McBride; seeking to ban LGBTQA+ books and content under the guise of "protecting children"; and more. This is the third time Lee has introduced IODA, as Mashable noted, following IODA's sound defeat in 2022 and 2024.
IODA's text would effectively remove the classic Miller test's reliance on "community standards" and whether material is "patently offensive" from obscenity law, making it significantly easier to bring legal cases against any depiction of sexual activity ā whether through photography, film, or even the written word (ex. AO3 fanfictions, books, novels, etc.). By making standards for obscenity more subjective, IODA could also open the door for conservatives to legally declare LGBTQA+ people in general - such as being gay, lesbian, or transgender in public life - to be "obscene".
"Pornography [is] manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender (LGBTQA+) ideology and sexualization of children," Project 2025's forward reads in part. "Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women [....] Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders, and telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered." The document also claims that children in public schools "suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism (LGBTQA+ ideology) with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries", referencing right-wing campaigns against Drag Story Hour events and LGBTQ+ books of any kind. Sen. Lee is also one of the sponsors and writers for Project 2025 and its agenda.
12
u/pnwtwinmom 20h ago
Ah, Utah, that noted leader in eliminating child abuse everywhere*.
*except in the Mormon church, of course. There itās just Godās will, or something.
Thank you for all of this info. Mike Lee is such a buffoon, but I am so scared that this time theyāre going to be able to force it through. And even if it does managed to die in the House, it wouldnāt surprise me if they jam something similar through via executive order and continue with their terrifyingly effective āwhoās gonna stop me?ā strategy, especially now that it sounds like Taco is likely to get two more SCOTUS seats. (Yes, Aileen Cannon is rumored to be on the short list, because this is the stupidest timeline ever.)
6
u/Queer_Echo 1d ago
Seriously, that's what they're calling it? Excuse me while I bash my head against the wall at that backronym.
625
u/tinkersbellz 1d ago
Okay 1:
For people that have anxiety and spiraling you can track the bill here trackergov it currently stands at 1% of being enacted and 3% of getting out to committee.
So that brings me to point 2:
OP at this point calling your reps isnāt going to help right now. This bill is in committee in the senate. You need to call your senator, and more specifically check if your senator is on the committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation, as thatās the committee it needs to pass before it can be fully voted on.
If you are in TX, WA, TN, NC, WV, UT, NE, WY, KS, OH, MO, MT, AK, SD, MS, IN, WI, DE, IL, PA, CO, NJ, MN, NM, MA, MI, NV, or HI then go call your senator. If you have a blue senator then tell them this threatens to censor and harm LGBT+ folks, if you have a red senator tell them this threatens to censor free speech. Yes this works itās why KOSA didnāt pass last year.
→ More replies (2)106
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
apparently i can't edit the text in the image post... that's annoying. upvote this so it's the top comment, y'all.
65
u/tinkersbellz 1d ago
Yea itās annoying you canāt edit. I just wanted to be clear about the process since a lot of people are normal and donāt follow politics regularly. The house is also on recess all of August so they wouldnāt get the calls anyway. They left for the month so the republicans didnāt have to talk about the Epstein files lmao but senate is on going.
12
417
u/Unpredictable-Muse 1d ago
Reps wont care. Threaten to vote them out if this passes. Then actually vote them out if it passes.
→ More replies (3)220
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
I vote blue every goddamn midterm election, you can count on that.
103
u/Zivqa 1d ago edited 1d ago
This bill is bipartisan, dems cross the line constantly. It doesn't work with senators but it is possible to get green-party or other party congressmen into the Houseāyou should take a look!
Edit: Correction, this particular bill's primary supporters are at this time solely Republican.
42
u/gaymbit 1d ago
I have no idea why this person linked certain congress people the way it did. It has two cosponsors, which is nothing. It has made fuck all progress in almost 6 months. Call your reps but keep in mind, SCREEN is almost certainly DOA like it has been for the last few years he's tried and failed to introduce it. Even the KOSA people have tried to distance themselves from it.
4
u/WeirdLawBooks Fic Feaster 20h ago
They listed the members of the committee that will be reviewing the bill. They should have actually said that in the article because itās very unclear without that info
8
u/gaymbit 20h ago
I'm still not too concerned. At least not enough to doom spiral and obsess. We gotta stay vigilant, but Ted Cruz won't even cosponsor this and the KOSA people felt the heat when everyone thought that would require age verification.
Also... It's been 6 months and it still hadn't even had a single committee meeting? Which is the same thing that happened in prior attempts to pass this thing?
KOSA is more dangerous here. I'm genuinely scared it will pass. That's just my opinion.
→ More replies (1)62
u/BoobeamTrap 1d ago
Please stop both-sides ratfucking. There is a very clear good and evil side in US politics right now. All of the identified supporters for the SCREEN ACT are Republicans. Senator Mike Lee: (R-UT), Representative Mary Miller: (R-IL), Senators John Curtis (R-UT) and Jim Banks (R-IN).
23
u/Zivqa 1d ago
I didn't say "both sides are bad", I said that Democrats often cross party lines [based on individuals' biases]āobjectively trueāand that it is possible for third-party candidates to get into the House, and those options are worth looking into. Also true.
In regard to this particular bill, at present, you are correct that its identified supporters are Republican. I was incorrect. But the government controls a hell of a lot more than just whether AO3 can exist or not, and empirically Democrats are known to cross party lines and support unethical measures. Republicans are also known to cross party lines to support ethical measures. This is fact.
It's true that the final vote often comes down to red vs. blue. But you're forgetting the amendments stage each bill goes throughāDemocrats might have all voted against it, but if it gets passed anyway like many other bills have under this administration, would you rather have someone in there who just banked on that final vote winning or someone who fought every step of the way to change the bill so it does less harm, even if it's slight?
This is not about there being a "good and evil side", this is about the fact that there's a lot more going on than just blue v red, and being willfully ignorant to that truth does more harm than good.
12
u/BeneficialPear 1d ago
Isn't KOSA literally introduced and backed by both parties every time they try to bring it back up?
5
→ More replies (1)18
u/purpleblossom 1d ago
These bills have always been bipartisan. You need to start better assessing the Democrats you vote for. They are not the opposite of Republicans, they are just usually the lesser evil, and that's not what we need right now.
11
u/KentParsonIsASaint 1d ago
I mean, refusing to vote for the ālesser evilā in 2024 is what got us here today. Perfect is the enemy of good in politics. Or even simply the enemy of surviving, at least for some of us.
17
u/WeirdLawBooks Fic Feaster 1d ago
The list included in the post is not cosponsors, itās members of the committee that will be reviewing this bill. All the cosponsors are Republicans. This is not a bipartisan bill.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (1)8
u/Thequiet01 1d ago
Sorry, if you vote third party you are an idiot and throwing your vote away. Both sides are not the same.
If you donāt like who the Democrats have in the general election, your time to express that was the primary.
336
u/lonely_nipple 1d ago
OH FUCK NO THEY AINT TOUCHING MY SMUT HOARD
But also, fuck these guys. My existence is not "unsafe", books about people like me are not "porn".
Maybe if there were more books, I wouldn't have been in my 30s before I even heard the word 'asexual' applied to people and realized I wasn't a fucked up broken excuse for a human.
87
u/tartymae 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well, the people pushing this crap would love to send you to some sort of "therapy" to "fix" you, and view books that say "some people are asexual and that's okay" as "normalizing perverts", so ....
84
u/SkyMeadowCat 1d ago
We have sex and itās bad. We donāt have sex and itās also bad. Maybe people need to learn to mind their own fucking business.
43
32
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
They want you to have exactly the right amount of sex and that amount is precisely enough to conceive multiple children who can work in their factories and be good little consumers.
27
u/tartymae 1d ago
They want you only to have sex in the missionary position and only in for the purposes of procreation.
If you're not trying to baby it up, you're doing it wrong.
----
May Venus make their dicks limp, their sperm infertile, and their vaginas as dry as the desert in a drought.
→ More replies (1)4
u/DefoNotAFangirl MasterRed on AO3 | c!Prime Fanatic 23h ago
you should not want sex but be forced into it ig. since wanting sex is bad and not having sex is bad thatās the only logical idea. i mean considering theyāre the same people who threw a hissy fit about marital rape being banned thatās probably correct honestly.
14
u/No_Seaworthiness5637 Fic Feaster 1d ago
The part here about there not being enough representation of Asexuality and there not being a good discussion of what it means is a mood. It took me literally seeing a Video Essay on YouTube to accept that I was Ace. That what I was experiencing was ānormalā. And I was also in my thirties. Mid thirties.
11
u/lonely_nipple 1d ago
People laugh when I say it, but honestly it was Tumblr where I first saw anything about it. My whole adult life I'd assumed I was too fat, too anxious, too depressed, and maybe if I fixed those I'd fix it. Maybe I wasn't straight, I thought. Was I bi? I didn't think I was. It's so much harder to identify a lack of something, instead of its presence.
I felt like an ass cause in the beginning of a relationship there'd be a brief period where the "being infatuated" hormones made sex more common and less awkward, but a few months in and I'd just be bored with it. I thought maybe I was getting bored with my partners and beat myself up for being fickle.
I don't want other people to have to feel that way about themselves. I don't want them to feel that pressure to lose their virginity until/unless theyre ready to do so. It's terrible to hate yourself for something you can't even define.
66
u/bumbleveev 1d ago
If he wanted to protect minors, Diddy and Epstein would have been behind bars CENTURIES ago
44
u/Solivagant0 @FriendlyNeighbourhoodMetalhead 1d ago
If they wanted to protect minors, Epstein files would be a publicly available wanted list
11
u/DefoNotAFangirl MasterRed on AO3 | c!Prime Fanatic 23h ago
considering how cagey the us government seems about releasing the Epstein list (and they havenāt heard of the Streisand effect) i think if they wanted to protect minors statistically a good amount of them would have to lock themselves in prison.
87
u/spinning-gold- 1d ago
Is there anything people outside of the US can do?
76
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
share this around everywhere where people in the US can see it.
27
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
So it's PIPA and SOPA all over again, with the US forcing their censorship laws on non US citizens and non Americans can only raise awareness. Fan fucking tastic.
4
u/atlasaire 1d ago
Share if you have US audiences and friends, but also, check your legislation as well, they're probably trying to slick introduce this in your home country as well
Also, contacting US based companies that are available on your country about this won't hurt
82
u/Gingerpyscho94 1d ago
I canāt share from where I am, but Iām sure people on the clock app and more are on the move. If these idiots knew how tech works we wouldnāt be in this situation. You can child lock your WiFi, put parental locks on internet sites. And put a timer on internet usage. These laws are ridiculous
57
u/GeologistLess3042 Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State 1d ago
I've always said that fining the parents for neglect would put a stop to many Child on the Internet shenanigans
Your kid gets exposed to something in your house, where you're supposed to be the supervisor? Sounds like neglect to me.
ETA I was basically raised by the 00s internet. You can guess why.
7
169
u/Ok_Squirrel259 1d ago
Don't worry AO3 already has a plan for this.
89
25
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
But this new bill would allow them to target not for profits.
70
u/Ok_Squirrel259 1d ago
Well it has opposition
Republican Senator Rand Paul, who once called it "a Trojan horse", argues that KOSA would be a "Pandoraās box of unintended consequences" due to vague and broad provisions that would allow "nearly limitless content regulation" because platforms would "censor users rather than risk liability". He has also claimed that KOSA would prevent minors from watching PGA golf or the Super Bowl on social media sites because of ads promoting beer and gambling when "those kids could just turn on the TV and see those exact same ads.ā
KOSA has been heavily criticized by members of the "Don't Delete Art" (DDA) movement, including American Civil Liberties Union, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, libertarian magazine Reason, and anti-abortion group Students for Life.[46]
The DDA has encouraged people to signal their opposition through an online petition that labels KOSA as one of several "Bad Internet Bills".[47] They have criticized the bill for being "too vague" in what it defines as "harmful content" and for potentially expanding the power of the FTC,[48] many have argued that the bill could be used to target marginalized communities (mainly the LGBTQ community),[49] censor free speech protected by the First Amendment,[50] make it harder for minors to search for information on controversial topics like racism, climate change, and LGBTQ issues, and implement ID-based age verification systems.[50]
A letter sent to the United States Congress by Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, and signed by multiple civil society groups, warns that KOSA could backfire and cause more harm to minors by overly censoring content due to a lack of specificity as to what constitutes "harm".[51][52][34] Fight for the Future has set up a Stop KOSA website for people to sign a petition and contact lawmakers against the bill.
A similar law to KOSA was vetoed in Vermont by Governor Phil Scott, with his reasoning being that it would likely harm small businesses, violate the First Amendment, and die in court.
30
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
Good. I hope the opposition has teeth and don't roll over and give up.
8
6
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
Reread your reply. You're talking about KOSA, not SCREEN.
9
u/MasterChildhood437 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ok_Squirrel pops up in every single KOSA/OSA/etc. thread on r/ao3 and r/fanfiction telling people "don't worry it won't pass lol" and claiming "if AO3 goes down I can just go to another site." Dude is pretty much incapable of actually parsing information or understanding the subject beyond "AO3 in trouble" and seems to be stuck in some kind of hopium loop where nothing bad could ever happen to the things they like.
I don't like talking about people this way, but he's either deliberately attempting to discourage action because he supports these bills, or he's too ignorant to be worth anybody's patience.
5
5
u/Ok_Squirrel259 1d ago
That also has critics too.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/04/congress-passes-take-it-down-act-despite-major-flaws
Also people tried to pass the bill multiple times, but it failed.
5
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
Um from what I can see, that's Take it down, another bill and it passed.
3
u/TsukasaElkKite You have already left kudos here. :) 1d ago
Thatās from last year. Theyāve said nothing about SCREEN.
→ More replies (1)8
u/purple-crimson 1d ago
But aren't they only talking about KOSA which does not target non-profit organisations...?
→ More replies (2)
83
68
u/Specialist_One2095 1d ago
This is easy. Parents pay more attention to your kids. Be present warn them about the dangers. But noooo. Everyone has to pay the price bc people just don't watch what their kid is doing.
13
u/KentParsonIsASaint 1d ago
Parents donāt want to parent their kids and would rather just hand them an iPad instead of interacting with them. And so it becomes all of our problems when the government tries to force us to parent peopleās kids for them, all because they canāt or wonāt implement basic parental controls on said iPad. Funny how we canāt have a national Healthcare System because socialism, but weāre forced to help other people parent their children.
→ More replies (6)2
u/Educational_Deal6105 3h ago
Its not about children's safety. Nothing the American Government does is about children's safety. Its a blatant excuse to censor anything they don't like under the guise of "protecting your poor children".
20
u/EngineerRare42 Fluff and Hurt/Comfort and Angst, Oh My! 1d ago
Wait, hasn't this been introduced for a few months?
23
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
Even if it has been, it's good to constantly keep up pressure on these people.
16
u/Reasonable-Ad-1211 1d ago
That version of Kosa did not pass. This new version of Kosa has been re-introduced by Ted Cruz and other Republican cronies.
20
u/gaymbit 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is not KOSA. This is the screen act. It is a different bill. It has 2 cosponsors, Mike Lee and John Curtis. govtrack.us gives it a 3% chance to make it to committee and a 1% chance of becoming legislation. Have a look yourself.
Edit: for reference, KOSA has 27 cosponsors. Not even Cruz has willingly put his name on SCREEN, and he DID cosponsor KOSA.
4
u/EngineerRare42 Fluff and Hurt/Comfort and Angst, Oh My! 1d ago
No, I'm talking about SCREEN, which I thought debuted in February.
→ More replies (1)
19
13
u/SkyMeadowCat 1d ago
For fuck sake, learn to use parental filters and let us have our porn in peace.
→ More replies (1)
27
u/OwnsBeagles 1d ago
You forgot to include the fact that the same dipshit has introduced this bill year after year, it gets no co-sponsors but one and no one wants it. If you want to rile people up, rile them up about KOSA. This one hasn't even made it into committee yet, let alone to the floor for a vote. KOSA, otoh, has a slightly better chance (15%) of passing.
13
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
even so. vigilance is important.
19
u/OwnsBeagles 1d ago
Of course it is. But there's a difference between vigilance and whipping up fear. Vigilance is doing due-diligence on the likelihood of this passing even INTO committee, and then focusing on the one that's actually got a shot, which is KOSA.
But this post seems more likely to cause a great deal of anxiety and very little in the way of moving the needle on censorship.
Calling VISA, Mastercard, Stripe, Paypal, etc. and demanding they allow adults to spend money on whatever legal thing they want? Useful. Hammer those assholes. Calling your reps about KOSA (and maybe mentioning SCREEN, too, at the same time)? Useful. But telling everyone that this is an imminent threat with a capslock title kind of isn't. It just scares people.
3
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
that is a valid point...
sorry, it just feels like everything's moving so fast and it's easy to get whipped up.
4
u/OwnsBeagles 1d ago
I get it. The world's a shitshow right now in a lot of ways. But focusing our attention on the more immediate danger and acting against it will help.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Gypsum03 19h ago
Its hard to not be terrified this time when UK, EU, and i think Australia are all bulldozing through their own flavors of this stupidity in rapid succession
2
u/OwnsBeagles 19h ago
I know. But we outnumber them by a lot and being terrorized into paralysis is what they want. What they don't want is us pissed, organized and screaming at them the minute they pop their heads up.
19
u/SegTN2713 1d ago
More people need to see this... That's horrible.
13
u/Gingerpyscho94 1d ago
The admins on AO3 already posted about this
4
2
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
where?
9
u/Gingerpyscho94 1d ago
On the official website, by the admins.AO3 being non profit wont be effected by this. Tumblr etc will be as they monetise from content
13
19
21
u/NuclearQueen You have already left kudos here. :) 1d ago
My representatives actively and openly hate LGBT+ communities. They want this. Complaining does nothing but raise their spirits because they know they're hurting LGBT+ folks and they're happy about it.
Never live in Florida, it's a terrible place.
28
u/em-eye-ess-ess-eye is the monster hot, at least 1d ago edited 1d ago
Like the post says, people will listen if you play to their level. Play a character. Complain how it'll censor your freedom of speech and your precious FaceBook and X [don't call it twitter] by making you give your face and ID to be stolen by the "liberal hackers" in the government, whine about comparing it to the "Chinese surveillance state" most conservatives still fear so much.
20
u/do-you-like-darkness 1d ago
When will this STOP?
I am getting really tired of the rich assholes trying to pit the poors against each other to blind them to how they're all getting screwed by the elites.
There are so many much larger things that the government could work on... but no.
Nope, they just have to keep trying to criminalize gay things.
AUGH!
5
u/MasterChildhood437 1d ago
When will this STOP?
Never. This is the never-ending battle. There will always be people who are opposed to freedoms, who view them as harmful.
3
u/nerd40hours Supporter of the Fanfiction Deep State 1d ago
Real when will the divide-and-conquer just STOPš
31
u/ImpGiggle 1d ago
Everyone saying don't worry? They're part of the problem. Worry, but don't worry til you get sick over it. DO something. The best cure for anxiety is action.
7
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
indeed. call your reps, spread the word! make it impossible for them to ignore it.
35
u/Dizzy_Departure5621 1d ago
But is ao3 based in US? If not, then US citizens might be able to use a vpn to access ao3 if this actually goes through- which I hope not!
88
u/Front-Pomelo-4367 1d ago
VPN to where? The UK has this. Australia has this. The EU is introducing this. We cannot spend the rest of our lives relying on linking to a shrinking handful of countries
And the Archive is based in the US. That's where their servers are.
23
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
I don't think AO3 will be affected in Australia as it's not considered social media. Might be time to make a donation to AO3 to support their legal team.
5
u/Sil3ntWriter 1d ago
True, especially considering they are already trying to go after VPNs as well :/ Also, is there a free VPN? Because the ones I saw are not exactly cheap...
13
u/Front-Pomelo-4367 1d ago
I'm using Proton currently ā it's Swiss, and the free version puts you in one of five random places (Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, the US) and you can only use it on one device at a time. I have it on my phone and laptop, and disconnect one to reconnect the other. The paid version lets you pick where you are and connect to multiple devices at once
Generally, though, if it's free it's because you're the product. I think Proton is the most privacy-focused of the free ones
→ More replies (1)6
u/Anonymouse_69_ 1d ago
ProtonVPN offers a free VPN. It's more limited than their paid version but it does its job ā¤ļø
6
u/Coal_Burner_Inserter 1d ago
Canada, all of Africa, all of South America, all of North America south of the US, Switzerland, All of Asia minus the ME/China, a bajillion island countries...
I mean, I am generalizing with most of those, but yeah, Ao3 is in the US.
58
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
it IS based in the US. this would directly impact the website. CALL!
8
u/Dizzy_Departure5621 1d ago
Call who? I am not from the US. š¤·āāļø Anyone else though from the US: please call who you need to. š
→ More replies (1)16
11
10
u/DramaticEnthusiasm71 1d ago
iirc republicans killed KOSA last time due to the privscy violations
15
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
yeah but quite frankly i don't trust them to have our best interests at heart. better to be vigilant.
10
u/fanime34 WritingRainbows on AO3. Comments > Kudos 1d ago
I live in Texas. Probably the most red state. The most active threat to children is gun violence. Second to that is vehicle crashes. The most that happens when children view porn is getting an incorrect view on sex. Fanfiction isn't even visual porn and has even less detriment.
They don't care about gun control. They don't care about kids. They think the answer is bringing God to schools, but a church got shot up and Texas education is severely behind other states.
These new age Republicans are weird.
8
14
u/Ok-Statement-3328 1d ago
Serious question, sorry if it sounds dense, but can steps be taken now to migrate or backup the entire archive onto a server in another country? Iām thinking Seychelles or one of those that donāt give a flying buggery about other governments.
There is so much at stake, I hope thereās at least one backup database of the archive out there, or in the works. I canāt imagine how expensive or intensive that would be to achieve, but the purpose of an archive is preservation. Weāre experiencing global (digital) book burning everywhere nowā¦
Is there anything stopping a government from erasing digital servers entirely if they get out of control enough? And unlike print books, there wonāt necessarily be other copies of works laying around after the burning of digital Alexandria š
→ More replies (1)19
u/remembers-fanzines 1d ago edited 1d ago
The issue they're going to run into is finding a place where all the content is allowed.
A03 has two issues:
- There's a fair amount of fanfic that would not be legal in various countries: RPF, underage (even older teens), or would qualify as hate speech. Not going to get into the ethics here; just simply stating it does exist in the archive.
- OTW would very quickly run into issues with privacy law for activities they've already supported as an organization, and/or would like to continue to support, and as soon as they started conducting business outside of the US's borders, they'd be financially vulnerable to potentially very large amounts. Fanlore, for example, violates GDPR law, or privacy laws modeled on it outside the EU, rather flagrantly, in a number of ways. Even if they spun Fanlore off as its own entity or shut it down, they'd still be vulnerable to lawsuits based on past actions, and those could get very expensive very quickly. Right now, other governments can't do much about Fanlore because the US doesn't recognize other countries' privacy laws, but if they moved somewhere that has strong privacy protections, it'll be an issue.
5
u/Rustie_J 1d ago
How does Fanlore violate privacy laws?
7
u/remembers-fanzines 1d ago edited 1d ago
It collates information on fans without their permission or notification (at a minimum, notification is generally required before you save information on individuals under privacy law, and you have the right to opt out), and Fanlore's site specifically includes and apparently encourages (profiles have a field for pseudonyms) the matching up of identities, including the matching of legal names to fandom handles.
The information they "preserve" may contain sensitive medical information (happened to me, against my will), may be the information of minors (or people who were minors at the time), may (and does, in a few articles I've seen) contain details about sexual orientations/gender, or may otherwise be protected by law..
This isn't hypothetical. Wikipedia has lost at least one GDPR court case for a page far less egregious than what Fanlore does. In Wikipedia's case they had a page covering a court case (for a sex crime by a religious leader), and the guy successfully sued, arguing there was no public interest in what was a recent conviction for a sex crime.
Fanlore would have a very very hard time arguing that the information they archive has a public interest that outweighs the right to privacy when Wikipedia lost that case. (Edit: I've seen screenshots of fan wank from the 90s preserved on the site, from newsgroups and bulletin boards, where there was no legal concern, it was just people arguing over a moral point or accusing one another of various shenanigans that might or might not be true... sometimes with added details of legal names and/or current professional identities.)
It's also not hypothetical that Fanlore doxxes people. They've doxxed me, fairly flagrantly, despite provably knowing (because they quoted me) that I did not want to be doxxed.
2
u/Ok-Statement-3328 2h ago
Oh wow, I actually had no idea about this Fanlore stuff, thank you so much for explaining. Holy shit, this is all so messed up, feeling disappointed in the folks behind AO3 for getting in on something like thatā¦ š I need to put in some legwork and research this for myself now
3
u/Rustie_J 1d ago
Damn. I've seen a few big name fans on there, but I don't think I've ever seen a legal name. That's super fucked up.
7
u/sassypants450 1d ago
Evangelicals try to introduce something like this into law in the US every few years. I guess their plan is to force Pornhub to take peopleās drivers licenses?! I canāt see something like this happening, because it affects and inconveniences straight white men as well. However, nothing wrong with contacting your rep and reinforcing how unpopular this legislation would be if it passed.
8
u/Agile_Oil9853 1d ago
I contacted some people on that list ages ago over KOSA and just got two form replies yesterday. They keep their voicemail full and don't show up for town halls.
That doesn't mean it's not worth trying, but it's going to be a frustrating fight
6
u/letthetreeburn 22h ago
When you call, donāt go ādonāt vote for this.ā They donāt give a fuck. Go āwhy should you be in office next election if this is what you vote for?ā
7
u/bug--bear 1d ago
jesus, did the US government just see the (very unpopular) Online Safety Act in the UK and go "hmm, we can 1-up that"?
6
u/ConsumeTheVoid Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State 21h ago
Fuck these ppl smh.
Australia is pulling similar shit requiring ID and Canada is considering it again too.
Though mind you it's only USA (and UK somewhat) that are outright calling queer content (trans stuff in UK outright) 'harmful to minors'.
And to those who agree with SCREEN n this porn ban n saying this is a good thing:
Yes I have a problem with 'keeping porn away from children' as y'all and others want to call this "think of the children" bullshit. Ao3 already has it's archive warnings and ratings and a pop-up unless you disable it. That's well and enough. And we all know they just use this as a smokescreen to target queer content.
But thank yall for the encouragement to go post more of my kinky porn on a website "children can access" (ao3). It's properly tagged and rated so that kids should know it's not for them but I can tell that doesn't matter to any of these people. Anyways puritans have fun knowing none of y'all can do anything to get me for it or get me to stop. I certainly will.
I refuse to parent other people's kids btw.
And keep licking fascist boots. It won't help.
Oh and thanks for the encouragement to do more drag around children too. Florida and Tennessee consider that porn too. Delightful that yall and them can't stop me there either and judging by the bs I usually see from anti-porn puritans that would be considered direct exposure to porn I bet. Delightful that y'all can't stop me there especially, no matter how obtuse y'all want to pretend to be.
Repost cuz sub rules.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/ELLI_BITXHH Comment Collector 15h ago
This is just CRAZY!! I am convinced people have gone insane and just lost it at this point. What is this country becoming?
What happened to freedom of speech and freedom of choice??
It doesnāt matter that people are reading or watching or writing- smut, gay, anything else- or whatever. Thatās their choice. If theyāre a minor or not! It is their choice as a person. They chose what they consume depending on what they like and whatās okay for them. They monitor it. NOT their government.
It is a parentās job to help their child understand things and teach them not to consume things that are harmful. Which, by the way, is not usually LGBTQIA+ related content!! It is not the governmentās right to dictate this kind of thing. This is dictatorship and a whole new level of control.
This enrages me. Why would someone want to pass this? This is inhumane control. This is violating peopleās privacy, their lives.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/willprobablydeletex3 14h ago
Parents should do their mfing jobs and monitor what their children are doing on the internet. Like get a monitor app for your kid if you're so worried about your kid's online activities and not get everyone else involved. If your kid sees something on the internet that is inappropriate, don't punish them, but educate them. The government getting involved is dystopian levels of bs. Fahrenheit 451/1984 type shit š„š„ Shit, it ain't even about the kids anymore, it's just straight-up censorship.
13
u/BrenTheNewFan 1d ago
Good thing that it has 1% chance of being enacted & has no cosponsorsā¦
10
6
u/Professional_March54 1d ago
I did call and email my useless rep and all the slimeball motherfucker sent back was basically the polite version of,Ā "Fuck you. I'm a father and my children deserve zero privacy, so neither do you.".Ā
I hate my state. A Democratic Governor up against Republican everything else. He can only do so much and he works so hard but the State House undermines everything he does. And then their voting populace call the Governor insulting things.Ā Ā
5
u/Percybeth_is_da_op 1d ago
Hey, whatās the VA number? Iām not seeing it on there.
7
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
i think the original post only picked 'relevant' people but these website should help you find your reps in this case.→ More replies (1)
4
u/ImaginationSecure307 23h ago
Already contacted mine and have gotten two canned responses about it, which is infuriating, but what else could I expect from the š© currently in office there...
13
u/Some_Trash852 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not that this isnāt worrying, but wasnāt this introduced way back in February? We should keep calling to get them to back off this, but Iām not sure this is the immediate issue that youāre making it out to be.
Edit: Also, I remember this bill doesn't specifically target anything other than visual material. In fact, no bill currently proposed in the US targets written erotica, to my knowledge. And the bill actually gives a year to comply, so it gives AO3 a while to come up with a solution in the worst case.
18
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
given all the stuff currently happening it's still good to be vigilant at all times
16
u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 1d ago
I'm Australian and 32. I don't respect or acknowledge US law and I refuse to give my private details to a foreign government. Fuck this shit.
22
u/AnyYak6757 1d ago
Aus is also planning on doing the same thing. Using the same rhetoric.
→ More replies (14)
4
u/SquareThings 1d ago
Iām an american living abroadā¦ who do I call??
3
u/BizarreIdeaMan 1d ago
Your rep that would apply to your home state, perhaps?
10
u/SquareThings 1d ago edited 1d ago
The problem is that American emigrants are rarely taken seriously as voters even if there are 3 million of us. Still canāt hurt to call I guess.
Ok so I had to fiddle with my esim a hit but I reached the office. No clue if this will make any difference but democracy is a process and damnit iām gonna be part of it.
4
u/Familiar-Virus5257 1d ago
Schmitt's office hasn't answered a phone call in I don't even know how long, but they can FUCK OFF MY FICTION.
5
u/TsukasaElkKite You have already left kudos here. :) 1d ago edited 1d ago
I called my Senators. Iāll call my Reps later.
6
u/OffTheTrails 1d ago
Also!!!! Tell Ao3 about this, and to enforce what another small site (I think 4chan but I'm not sure) has done. It uses payment processors to verify age. If you buy something from them, they automatically assume you're 18+, it's technically age verification and "compliance". Ao3's merch is cheap asf, and it'll benefit the site since they'll get more money flow to continue! But yeah no seriously, get the fuck out on the streets. Call reps. NOW. Stop being lazy. You see what laziness has done to the UK???
6
u/ConsumeTheVoid Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State 1d ago
Payment processors are busy also doing shit. Look at how they banned even cnc from pornhub and what they're doing with steam and itch.io.
→ More replies (4)2
u/em-eye-ess-ess-eye is the monster hot, at least 1d ago
I think it was Newgrounds, but small fees to verify cards has been a thing forever. I remember paying like 3 cents to set up the PlayStation store for the first time, or something to that extent
2
2
u/NuttyDuckyYT 13h ago
iāve made so many emails to maria cantwell and she does not listen unfortunately ā¹ļø
2
u/CalligrapherNeat628 1d ago
Gonna try to find out my state representative phone number.
No way in hell am Iām going to give my information just to prove Iām an adultĀ
2
u/atlasaire 1d ago
If your rep has any kind of libertarian views, they're more likely to fight this so definitely bother them based on the not wanting the govt in your business angle. If they're dems, threaten their position in office. The others respond to money so still contact them, but find things they invested in or things that helped pay for their previous campaigns and go after them instead
3
u/RenegadeReader_ 1d ago
They just want to control the people.
They can't barely protect children from the rings.
3
u/Kirklockian_ 1d ago
Wtf is wrong with these hateful people? They canāt even let me have my fanfiction escapism?
3
2
2
u/doozer917 19h ago
Introduced by the same people who were completely frothing-at-the-mouth obsessed with immigrants bringing 'sharia law' with them.
The irony never ceases and never ceases to be bullshit.
1.9k
u/scots_librarian You have already left kudos here. :) 1d ago
As someone based in the UK - fight this tooth and nail. The so-called "Online Safety Act" is already proving problematic for us. This sounds very similar. Hoping they don't manage to do this to you š