EFF to Wisconsin Legislature: VPN Bans Are Still a Terrible Idea Wisconsin’s S.B. 130 / A.B. 105 is a spectacularly bad idea. It’s an age-verification bill that effectively bans VPN access to certain websites for Wisconsinites and censors lawful speech. We wrote

The Wisconsin Senate is voting on S.B. 130/A.B. 105, a problematic age verification bill that effectively bans VPN access to certain websites. If you live in Wisconsin, now is the time for you to contact your State Senator and urge them to vote down this bill. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Welcome to the club.

EFFecting Change: The Human Cost of Online Age Verification Age verification mandates are spreading fast, and they’re ushering in a new age of online surveillance, censorship, and exclusion for everyone—not just young people. Age-gating laws generally require

Age verification mandates. They're everywhere! But does anyone really want them? 🙅‍♀️

We're breaking these laws down, from what they do and how they harm civil liberties. Join us live next week! eff.org/livestream-age

Just a reminder, banning porn doesn't just mean going after OnlyFans or Pornhub. It also means banning written erotica. Smutty voice audios. Video games with sexual content. Your favorite romantasy novels. Fetish photography. Erotic art.

It's never just about pornographic films.

Group Behind Steam Censorship Policies Have Powerful Allies — And Targeted Popular Games With Outlandish Claims The organization behind Steam's latest payment processor censorship, Collective Shout, appears to tell some misleading tales.

The censorship of 80+ games on Steam this week was apparently the work of Australian antiporn group Collective Shout, which partnered with US evangelicals to pressure Visa and Mastercard.

They claimed, without evidence, that the games involved child abuse.

Great work by @acvalens.net for VICE.

In Colorado bill debate over social media and porn sites, when does protection of kids become overreach? A trio of bills aimed at regulating the internet to protect Colorado children have run into a wall of opposition over worries they’d infringe on First Amendment rights.

The Dem co-sponsor of the now-defeated right-wing age-verification bill in Colorado is saying the opposition "went off the rails"

By which they mean we brought up how it could easily be weaponized against LGBTQ groups and Planned Parenthood.

I'm sorry if that was inconvenient.

Springtime is good for that kind of thing. I'm so happy to see you finding your peace. I wish you lots of love and light in your journey, and I hope we can get together again before too long.

Why the internet still needs Section 230 Sen. Ron Wyden on the birth of a foundational speech law.

"Just look at Bluesky. Without Section 230, anyone aggrieved by a decision from Bluesky’s nascent moderation team could initiate a devastating lawsuit on any number of claims, smothering it in legal fees even if it won." -@wyden.senate.gov

Things overheard at SizeCon @sizecon.bsky.social "This place is like a giant AA meeting for people who were left unsupervised on the internet in early adolescence" 😆

Sitting at the airport, waiting on my flight to PDX and @sizecon.bsky.social!

Heading to SizeCon @sizecon.bsky.social Feb28-Mar2!