Post by @jdp23@neuromatch.social

RE: https://social.coop/@cwebber/116841848684568048

How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (1/N)

If you haven't read Christine's "What happened to the fight for the internet?" (linked in the quoted post), you really should. You can see some of my initial thoughts about Christine's excellent post in the replies, including an observation that people on decentralized social networks can potentially play a big role in pushing back on bad internet bills, but to date haven't had a lot of impact.

So let's make things concrete. What can fedi do to push back on KOSA and age verification bills that the US Senate is just about to vote on, C-34 in Canada, the social media ban in France, upcoming C. hat Control 2.0 in the EU, or whatever bad internet bills are in place wherever you are?

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Jon

@jdp23@neuromatch.social 1 hour ago

How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (2/N)

Suppose we decide to make it a collective project and galvanize people around the idea of "Save fedi, fight bad internet bills!" There are enough of us here, many of us with broad networks outside fedi as well, that we could really make a difference.

What kinds of things could we do to make ourselve more effective?

Here's a few ideas to kick things off ...

Jon

@jdp23@neuromatch.social 1 hour ago

How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (3/N)

To start with, there are good instructions out there about how to contact legislators -- @fight's Bad Internet Bills in the US, I'm sure there are equivalent sites elsewhere.

Many people here already do that. In a poll I recently did, roughly 50% said they had contacted legislators at least once,, and while it's somethiung of a self-selecting example, I'd be willing to bet the percentage is higher here than on most social networks.

Then again, many don't -- often because they don't realize how critical it is, or know about the bill but aren't sure what to do. So ...

How can we leverage fedi technologies to make it easier for people here to find out what's going on and why it's so important for them to take action -- especially as these battles strech on over months and multiple actions are needed?
From a pro-social design perspective, how do we encourage people to take action, repeatedly, and share the information with their networks who aren't on fedi?

#kosa #BadInternetBills

Jon

@jdp23@neuromatch.social 60 minutes ago

How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (4/N)

Narrator's voice: we interrupt this brainstorming thread for a time-sensitive action.

If you're in the US, one very concrete thing you can do is to contact your Senators right now. The Senate Judciary Committee is likely to vote on KOSA next week, and there's also a battle shaping up about the STOP CSAM Act. See the link in the previous post!

If you're in Massachusetts, lawmakers will vote soon on a final version of the social media bill. Grassroots pressure has made it a lot less bad than it was, but it still needs further improvement. So please call your state legislators as well!

https://www.stoponlineidchecks.org/MA

And if you're not in the US, please leave links to actions fighting bad internet bills in your country, state, regiion, etc!

Narrator's voice: we now return you to our regularly-scheduled brainstorming.

#ageVerification #BadInternetBills #mapol

Jon

@jdp23@neuromatch.social 53 minutes ago

How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (5/N)

The actions in the previous two posts are an example of where it certainly seems like we should be able to make things better. How are people who aren't already following me or Fight supposed to find them? I included hashtags, but I'm not sure they're all that relevant. And stuff like this is often shared in the Bad Internet Bills Lemmy community, but it doesn't have a lot of subscribers -- and it's just US specific.

I'm not particularly sure what the right answer is here, but it really does seem like an opportunity to do better.

And, what about people who want to go beyond just making a call? For example, if there are a bunch of people in an area all on fedi, you could set up a meeting with your legislator (or more likely their staff) to let them know in person why these bills would affect you. (You could even bring people who aren't on fedi!). This can be an intimidating process is you've never done it before, but there's good information out there -- and there are people here who have done that before and can help coach people who are new to the project.

How do point people to how they can get more deeply involved if they the time and interest, give them the information and support they need to be effective?

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