1. United States
2. Ore.
3. Letter

STOP KOSA and other Internet sensorship bills! I applaud our Senator Wyden for recognizing that KOSA will be weaponized by presidential administrations to force service providers to censor content based on arbitrary, vague guidelines, and posing an undue burden on small social websites like forums, private chats, and free/open-source platforms that have little to no budget (created as safe small and anonymous volunteer-moderated alternatives to the often harmful policies of big tech companies like Facebook!) Trump and Project 2025 have already signaled their intent to demonize LGBT people online and in the public square, and declare their very existence to be sexualized or harmful. Yet it is these very communities, able to talk honestly about the human experience in ways that parents and teachers often are unwilling or unable, that help people connect and realize universal truths. Notably we see very little mention of protecting kids from violence and radicalized hate speech, like the "incel", racist, gun-centric, and supremacist content that people like the rally shooter from a few weeks ago consume easily. And surely if disturbed young people like this are able to get their hands on AR15s, they'll be able to claim to be adults on the internet. This is a solution (vague mass White House surveillance and censorship) searching for a problem (depression in kids? Really? No other more creative and direct ways of helping with that, like say helping their parents have a living wage and affording groceries and free time to spend with them?) I'm disappointed that Senator Merkley isn't a fourth opponent of this un-American censorship bill whose primary consequences will be demonizing LGBT people and destroying free speech. I hope that Rep. Salinas works for the American People, not power-hungry people in the White House, and works to oppose this bill. It's been tried many times in many ways -- remember censorship chips in TVs and the many Internet bills that have failed? -- and it's never been a good idea. Even if it passes its constitutionality will be immediately challenged. Congress can and must do better.