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

I'm writing to ask you to veto Senate Bill S9934A, the Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act. I live in New York and care deeply about preserving digital privacy for everyone in this state. This bill might sound like it's protecting journalism, but it actually endangers tools we all rely on. So-called "stealth crawlers" are just automated bots that access public web data without announcing who's running them. They're used for investigative reporting, academic research, cybersecurity testing, and privacy tools like EFF's Privacy Badger. Requiring every crawler to identify itself criminalizes legitimate work. I'm also worried about what this gives news publishers the power to do. Under S9934A, they could petition courts to unmask anyone using an anonymous crawler—no proof of wrongdoing required. That means researchers, journalists, or everyday citizens could be forced to reveal their identities just for reading publicly available content. If the goal is protecting servers from overload, there are technical fixes that don't require destroying anonymity. Unmasking crawlers won't reduce traffic, but it will scare off the security researchers and watchdogs who hold bad actors accountable online. I respect the importance of supporting local journalism. But this isn't the way to do it. A bill that threatens activists, researchers, and ordinary New Yorkers who need privacy when researching sensitive topics goes too far. I hope you'll veto S9934A and find policies that protect both press and digital rights.