John,

We’re living our lives online to a degree we’ve never experienced before—working from home, taking classes online, connecting with each other, and getting healthcare through tele-health appointments. It’s the wrong time for lawmakers to do anything to threaten our online security.

But right now Congress is considering the EARN IT Act, which would give Attorney General William Barr the power to break end-to-end encryption, putting us all at risk of hacking, privacy breaches, and government abuse.¹

We’re organizing to stop this dangerous bill by flooding Congress with emails and phone calls, but we need your help. Will you donate now so we can protect digital safety and security?

DONATE

Congress wants us to believe that the EARN IT Act will protect children from online exploitation. Instead, the EARN IT Act makes us all less safe by destroying important online security and privacy protections.²

You see, the EARN IT Act grants the Attorney General broad authority to force tech companies to do whatever he wants, and what William Barr wants is no secret. For decades, he has demanded that tech companies create “digital backdoors” to allow law enforcement agencies access to our personal communications.³ But experienced security professionals warn that killing encryption will have disastrous effects.⁴ After all, previous attempts by the government to install digital backdoors have threatened our communication systems, power grids … even nuclear facilities.⁵ That’s terrifying.

Public safety and personal privacy don’t need to be earned; they are protected by the Constitution.6 Don’t let Congress chip away at your essential freedoms online. Please consider making a donation to help us stop the EARN IT Act from threatening our rights and our lives.

DONATE

Regards,

Dayton at Fight for the Future

Footnotes:

1. The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/31/21116788/earn-it-act-section-230-lindsey-graham-draft-bill-encryption

2. EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/congress-must-stop-graham-blumenthal-anti-security-bill

3. Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/barrs-encryption-push-is-decades-in-the-making-but-troubles-some-at-fbi-11579257002

4. Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/2015/07/30/security-officials-support-encryption/

5. Wired: https://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/

6. ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology

Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.