Privacy and policy critique

Privacy/freedom of speech advocacy notes in federal policy:

Congress is looking to renew the Patriot Act for data collection:

"If approved, the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020 would reauthorize Section 215 powers Congress established under the USA Patriot Act in 2001. Section 215 is the provision national-security agencies have cited to support their unwarranted collection of phone records of hundreds of millions of people in the United States."

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/congress-tries-sneak-through-dangerous-spying-bill-under-cover-coronavirus

And in what you'd think was entirely unrelated--youth exploitation/sex trafficking legislation--other folks are concerned that it's a push to cripple end-to-end encryption.

This was framed as a privacy rights/free speech issue by the EFF but I see there's a lot more to it after reading most of the bill--the bill is 65 pages long and in sentiment is decent: Why not get a committee to develop best practices around preventing the sexual exploitation and trafficking of youth?

Summing up the prevailing problem in one line: 

The policy's still attacking the messengers, not the folks with the message.

Three things I see as issues with non-expert and possibly haunch-like skepticism:

1. Root causes like a functional foster care system, viable domestic abuse shelters and recovery (including basic housing for those who are trying to leave an abusive family and have a healthy place to live; counseling and therapy or addiction recovery support), victim protections* are probably not addressed. 

Or if so, definitely not adequately--our country is terrible at addressing this and we still struggle to make the necessary changes last. 

At best, there will be a report and legislation with best practices that might unify a few agencies depending on the administrative leadership that's been around. But how would the best practices compiled by committee differ from those identified by NGOs like Polaris which are still working on the same issues?

i.e. many trafficked sex workers wind up getting penalized more than the people that exploited them--Cytonia Brown (a child at the time of her sentencing) and another teenager (whose name I unfortunately forget but is still facing prison time despite being the victim) being very recent visible examples of this--and must bear more stigma while not getting support for their own needs much like how low level drug dealers wind up with the brunt of issues ranging from hard to cut gang ties and sometimes addiction

2. As EFF points out, this bill makes whatever the committee recommend into legislation, and while I couldn't find the specific sections in the bill (pretty sure it'll be somewhere toward the end of the first ⅓ of the bill in the 20-30 page range), the AG allegedly would have power to basically force encrypted web services like WhatsApp and signal to (presumably broadly) disclose private user information or just shut them down -- those are Messengers, not necessarily the source of the messages and it becomes a violation of privacy much like the Patriot Act

3. Most elected officials don't really know how basic technology really works -- the committee would be made of lots of majority and minority appointees. 

I.e. Mark Zuckerberg's congressional hearing is an unfortunate example in how incompetent the average representative and their likely chosen advisors tend to be.

Sophos security summary article

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/03/13/earn-it-act-threatens-end-to-end-encryption/

Senate Bill

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3398/text

EFF advocacy

https://act.eff.org/action/protect-our-speech-and-security-online-reject-the-graham-blumenthal-bill

Privacy and People in Policy: encryption and its connection to human trafficking

[originally written and put up as a hasty series of posts here during peak wave 1 COVID-19 madness: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10113002978189293&id=2256689 ]

PART I

Two National Privacy-related (one youth human trafficking/exploitation centered) legislative bills worth noting:

1) EARN IT act -- end-to-end encryption vulnerability

I read about 55/65 pages of the EARN IT act which is centered on youth human trafficking/sexual exploitation and has a provision some privacy advocates are concerned would give power to halt end-to-end encryption.

Further analysis found in Part II.

In short, a committee of bipartisan appointees would make best practice recommendations which then become a bill + the Attorney General would be able to take some pretty bold actions to enforce.

More likely than not, the Attorney General or committee and bill would bw inclined to "shoot the messenger" (ban/take over end-to-end encrypted apps like whatsapp, signal etc.) rather than solve root issues like housing/functional foster care, employment, addiction/counseling, not penalizing the sex workers/holding the traffickers accountable, etc.

2) USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020 -- renews part of the Patriot Act

USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020 would renew section 215 of the Patriot Act and reauthorizes Section 215 powers Congress established under the USA Patriot Act in 2001.

Section 215 is the provision national-security agencies have cited to support their unwarranted collection of phone records of hundreds of millions of people in the United States. If I recall correctly, the method most people took public alarm to was a technically legal collection (metadata + triangulation) of data, rather than the individual's actual--so it's like stalking someone's life through their trash rather than going into their house to find out what they're doing.

See comments for a more detailed analysis.

[1] https://www.eff.org/document/earn-it-act

original introduced bill:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3398

[2] https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/congress-tries-sneak-through-dangerous-spying-bill-under-cover-coronavirus

Have not yet read the USA FRA bill. Definitely haven't read the Stimulus Package and probably won't.

PART II
Privacy/freedom of speech advocacy notes in federal policy:

Congress is looking to renew the Patriot Act for data collection:

"If approved, the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020 would reauthorize Section 215 powers Congress established under the USA Patriot Act in 2001. Section 215 is the provision national-security agencies have cited to support their unwarranted collection of phone records of hundreds of millions of people in the United States."

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/congress-tries-sneak-through-dangerous-spying-bill-under-cover-coronavirus

And in what you'd think was entirely unrelated--youth exploitation/sex trafficking legislation--other folks are concerned that it's a push to cripple end-to-end encryption.

This was framed as a privacy rights/free speech issue by the EFF but I see there's a lot more to it after reading most of the bill--the bill is 65 pages long and in sentiment is decent: Why not get a committee to develop best practices around preventing the sexual exploitation and trafficking of youth?

Summing up the prevailing problem in one line:

The policy's still attacking the messengers, not the folks with the message.

Three things I see as issues with non-expert and possibly haunch-like skepticism:

1. Root Causes Remain Unsolved
Root causes like a functional foster care system, viable domestic abuse shelters and recovery (including mobility and basic housing for those who are trying to leave an abusive family and have a healthy place to live; counseling and therapy or addiction recovery support), victim protections* are probably not addressed.

Or if so, definitely not adequately--our country is terrible at addressing this and we still struggle to make the necessary changes last.

At best, there will be a report and legislation with best practices that might unify a few agencies depending on the administrative leadership that's been around. But how would the best practices compiled by committee differ from those identified by NGOs like Polaris which are still working on the same issues?

i.e. many trafficked sex workers wind up getting penalized more than the people that exploited them--Cytonia Brown (a child at the time of her sentencing) and another teenager (whose name I unfortunately forget but is still facing prison time despite being the victim) being very recent visible examples of this--and must bear more stigma while not getting support for their own needs much like how low level drug dealers wind up with the brunt of issues ranging from hard to cut gang ties and sometimes addiction

2. Shooting the Messenger, but Not the SourceAs EFF points out, this bill makes whatever the committee recommend turn into legislation, and while I couldn't find the specific sections in the bill (pretty sure it'll be somewhere toward the end of the first ⅓ of the bill in the 20-30 page range), the AG allegedly would have power to basically force encrypted web services like WhatsApp and signal to (presumably broadly) disclose private user information or just shut them down -- those are Messengers, not necessarily the source of the messages and it becomes a violation of privacy much like the Patriot Act

3. Does your elected official know how to use "the google" or how the internet works?Most elected officials don't really know how basic technology really works -- the committee would be made of lots of majority and minority appointees.

I.e. Mark Zuckerberg's congressional hearing is an unfortunate example in how incompetent the average representative and their likely chosen advisors tend to be.

Sophos security summary article

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/03/13/earn-it-act-threatens-end-to-end-encryption/

Senate Bill

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3398/text

EFF advocacy

https://act.eff.org/action/protect-our-speech-and-security-online-reject-the-graham-blumenthal-bill

Fo[u]r people digging deep

Four people I tend to think about and why when it’s time to dig deep or regroup with sadness or overwhelm before moving forward again:

1. Mum – “you always have three choices you can make, even to the moment before death.”

And her refugee immigration story for getting to the U.S. reminds me that we made it this far, she went through a lot to get here, most of the nonsense we face isn’t quite like witnessing tanks roll into your city and having to escape with part of your family from political persecution by boat.

2. Jake Turbett – when I was in middle school and sometimes even high school I knew he’d be willing to make space at a lunch table for me to sit down even though I didn’t know much about him otherwise. We’d probably have very different views, and straight out of high school he joined the U.S. Marine Corps genuinely believing in defense of the country before getting killed in action a few years later while in Kandahar.

3. Marie Colvin – war correspondent focused on telling the story of everyday people impacted by war and was credited with preventing the massacre of 1000 Indonesians during a civil war by refusing to leave when all media agencies departed in anticipation of a military operation; she was later killed while reporting on the Assad regime’s decimation of Homs in Syria. She exemplified the fact that some people are willing to risk death for the sake of simply telling the truth about people’s suffering.

4. Charity Hicks – Detroit advocate whose memory is often expressed with the phrase to “wage love.”

While I might have crossed paths with her, I certainly didn’t share a conversation in depth but that expression tells me that it’s equally important and always possible to show up with a tender heart while doing the work that's needed.

Create, stand up, speak out, live with the courage to care even when it's hard to find and feel. All of it matters even if it's to one person.


Thanks to Jewel Kawataki for inspiring this reflection.

An Origami frog folded for a friend in Washington D.C.-- Omakaki, Ojibwemowen for frog with roots that can also mean "growth in the dark"; Kaeru in Japanese which can also, if my shallow gleaning from a beer company has any bearing, mean a return to prosperity.