1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

Subject: Removing ID Verification in [H.5366] I’m writing with great concern and frustration over the changes the House has made through H.5366 to the Senate’s Bill [S.2581 An Act to promote student learning and mental health.]These amendments could require ID verification as a part of getting access to websites and apps that would be defined as social media. What started as a common sense, bell-to-bell cellphone ban for our students has become a piece of legislation that will irrevocably change how all in MA are able to access the internet. It is an affront to the rights we should have over our data as well as our privacy. While all of us understand the impact social media can have on our young people and we want a solution, that solution cannot result in the end of a free, open, and democratized internet. Though ID verification and facial scanning are not the only credentials social media companies can use to verify age, they are have become commonplace in states and countries that have passed similar legislation. If users notice one company doesn’t ask, another inevitably will. Beyond that, ID verification creates yet another credential that can be compromised in a security breach, and it’s already happening. The popular messaging app, Discord, is one of the companies at the forefront of this ID verification push. Not too long after announcing it, they had a security breach which they weren’t even supposed to be holding onto in the first place. ID verification hands the keys of the internet over to the very companies that have created these societal ills. It puts journalists, whistle blowers, and people in marginalized communities needing anonymity at severe risk. Historically, for students who cannot find community and support in their school, especially LGBTQ+ students, finding community on the internet has been a godsend. ID verification cuts that lifeline. **As this legislation makes its way to Conference Committee, I implore you to make sure any amendments that require ID and age verification for app stores, individual apps, websites or operating systems are removed. If legislation that has these requirements is before the Governor, she must veto it.** A cellphone ban is a welcome change to help our young people become successful and resilient adults. A social media ban with age verification means that when they finally are able to access the internet, they are doing so in a way that is unprecedented in the internet’s history: data-harvested and surveilled across all platforms and subject to an ever increasing amount of data and security breaches. This is not just a Massachusetts issue, this is a global issue. There are intentional changes being made through legislation in other states and countries that are attempting to make the internet a closed square, to the benefit of data companies, social media companies, big tech, and clamp downs by the federal government. Massachusetts is a leader in education, technology, industry, and providing its citizens with positive rights. Massachusetts has the opportunity to lead the country by example by advocating for digital rights, privacy, and taking a stand against draconian surveillance practices such as ID verification. I hope you are able to bring these concerns to Conference Committee either through your own means or the means of your colleagues.