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 ...
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?
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.
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?
How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (6/6, for now)
A couple more potential ideas before I wrap this thread up for now ...
one of fedi's strengths is that many instances are communities. Some are geographically based; others (like infosec.exchange and defcon.social) are communities of practice with some very relevant expertise about some of the reasons these bills are so bad. Are there ways to leverage this?
fedi platform and app developers are directly affected by these bills. Are there wasy to get them to take a more active role?
And like I say these are just starting points, so other suggestions are very welcome!
How can fedi help fight bad internet bills? (7/6, oops)
And one more -- shame on me for leaving this out of my initial list.
These bad internet bills either require age verification (a surveillance technology) or attack encryption (a critical anti-surveillance technology). Big surveillance-capitalism companies also love them because they put a big burden on small social networks, crininalize anonymity, and require even privacy-friendly networks to share their users' intensely personal data if theydon't want to break the law.
People in fedi generally get that. And a lot of people in fedi here to get away from surveillance capitalism! @cyberlyra and the @TheBulletin crew provide lots of resources for people trying to move away from surveillance capitalism platforms. #FediPact exists! The Free Fediverse defines itself in opposition to surveillance capitalism! Sure, there are also plenty of people here who are just fine with surveillance capitalism, whatever, but there are a lot of us who aren't.
That's a huge strength. How do we leverage it?
And in the process, how can we also get more people involved in projects Tech Reclaimers?