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Can the Fediverse Help Stop Bad Internet Bills? (US focused)
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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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Privacy
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Can the fediverse help? That depends, how much money does the fediverse have? How much is the fediverse willing to spend to stop it?
That's the real question. Spreading information is great, but as we've seen the only thing is does is make more people angry when they bad bills go through.
People with money don't care about how many people are angry, we've been shown that time and time again. They've even stopped pretending they listen to us anymore.
Grassroots opposition has helped digital rights and privacy organizations stop bad internet bills from passing many times before, including some of these same bills just last year. Of course it is true that money talks and so deep pocketed companies and politicians have a lot more influence than we do, so cynicism is definitely warranted; and grassroots opposition doesn't always win.. But on bills like these, getting involved can make a difference.
#BadInternetBills
Yeah I'm definitely cynical by this point. The state of the world has me made sick. While I believe that our influence is very limited, I also believe so too are our options. I'm just upset that we've gotten back to the point in our history where getting people mad is all we've got. The only real end we're heading towards is violence, and I don't like it.
Don't kid yourself. Congressional gridlock stopped those bills.
Not exactly. These bills cut across party lines and there's a lot of desire to be able to pass something -- "think of the children!" So if anything the overall gridlock makes it more likely that these bills will pass. So the dynamics that led to stopping the bills last year was a combination of activists making enough noise, and privacy and digital rights groups pressing the case in meetings with legislators (as well as some grassroots groups with good relationships with their legislators). As a result, that Dem leadership decided not to move the bills to the floor, so the vote never happened.
They'll care and listen when the molotovs come out-- or they'll burn, and cease to be a problem.
Until that happens, yes, they don't give a shit about the common people.
Yeah unfortunately that is the only way they'll listen. So getting people mad is the only option we have. It's just a shame that we've cycled back to this state.
That will never happen. Americans are far too obedient.
It's happened before. Too much pressure, and eventually something has to give