1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I'm writing as your constituent to urge you to vote against the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in any form currently before Congress. This bill may come across as common-sense protection for young people, but the reality is far more troubling. Privacy advocates and civil liberties groups—from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to the ACLU and over 90 other organizations—have warned that KOSA's "duty of care" provisions create an impossible problem: platforms can only comply if they know which users are minors. That pressure forces intrusive age-verification systems across the entire internet, not just sites serving children. This isn't hypothetical. The EFF has made clear that KOSA pushes companies to collect more user data while simultaneously claiming to protect it. The ACLU has flagged how this undermines free speech and could actually make kids less safe by encouraging broader surveillance. Here's what's at stake for me and millions of others: - Age verification on every site: To prove a child isn't accessing content, platforms will need to verify everyone's age, eroding anonymous browsing. - More data collection, less privacy: Verifying age means handing over identity information to whoever runs that system—a massive breach of the very privacy this bill claims to safeguard. - Chilling effects on speech: When platforms fear liability, they'll over-remove content. Legal expression gets caught in the crossfire. I take my digital rights seriously. I expect my elected officials to do the same. Let me be clear: if you vote to advance legislation that dismantles basic online privacy and free speech protections, I will not support you in future elections. There are plenty of alternatives that address youth safety without sacrificing fundamental civil liberties—legislation that respects users' rights rather than treating the entire internet as a risk to manage. Please join those calling for real solutions that don't cost us our privacy.