kinda important to Mastodon US law - esp with regards to sex work 

Heads up, the US is trying to push through a bill that makes site owners criminally responsible for the behavior of their users.

congress.gov/bill/115th-congre

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@vahnj Damn, my (usually quite sensible) representative is a co-sponsor. I guess I need to pick up the phone. Probably best to do so during regular business hours?

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@vahnj How's this? "I’m calling about FOSTA, House Bill 1865. The same people who are concerned about net neutrality, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are concerned that HR1865 will prevent victims of sex trafficking from speaking out, and it will lead social-media companies to resort to automated filters that can easily be gamed by the alt-right. Weakening section 230's protections for online speech is the wrong way to fight sex trafficking."

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@vahnj Amend last sentence: "Weakening section 230's protections for online speech, with vague and exploitable language about 'reckless disregard', is the wrong way to fight sex trafficking."

I'm deeply anxious about speaking on the phone, and I want to get this as good as I can.

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@vahnj "I’m calling about FOSTA, House Bill 1865. The same people who are concerned about net neutrality, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are concerned that HR1865 will prevent victims of sex trafficking from speaking out, and it will lead social-media companies to resort to automated filters that can easily be gamed by the alt-right. The meaning of the term 'reckless disregard' has not been well established in the context..."

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@vahnj "... of modern social media, and weakening section 230's protections for online speech with vague and exploitable language is the wrong way to fight sex trafficking."

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@vahnj Done!

I left a message. Now to breathe deeply for a good long while ... I don't know why it's harder for me to make statements on the phone than it is for me to mouth off in person, but who ever said anxiety had to make sense....

reddit link to important bill affecting Masto 

@bstacey I feel ya about that. Phones are hard :/

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!