The EARN IT Act is dangerous. It threatens speech on the internet and tech companies' ability to provide secure communications for their users. There may not be anything about encryption in the dry text of the bill, but the threat is there all the same. No one knows what "best practices" the law will demand from online services, but the bill's focus on child porn strongly suggests any platform that "allows" this information to be transmitted using encrypted communications will be targeted by the government.

Bill Barr and Chris Wray have made it clear encryption is the enemy. Both have advocated for encryption backdoors, even if they're both too cowardly to use that term. No one thinks the government and service providers shouldn't do all they can to prevent the sharing of child porn, but undermining encryption isn't the solution. It may shield some child porn producers and consumers from detection, but the government's efforts in this area show encryption hasn't posed much of a problem to investigators and prosecutors.

Encryption protects people who aren't criminals. As Runa Sundvik explains for TechCrunch, targeting encryption via the EARN IT Act also threatens some of the foremost beneficiaries of the First Amendment: journalists.

[T]echnology experts warn the bill not only fails to meet the challenge, it creates new problems of its own. My job is to enable journalists to do their work securely — to communicate with others, research sensitive stories and publish hard-hitting news. This bill introduces significant harm to journalists’ ability to protect their sources.

Strip communications platforms of their encryption and you make it that much easier to expose journalists' sources and snoop on their communications. This isn't an existential threat. It's an actual threat. The FBI has spied on journalists and several successive presidential administrations have made rooting out leakers a priority.

But it does more than harm journalists. It also harms the people they're trying to reach: readers. Encryption protects readers who visit news sites utilizing HTTPS. That's almost all of them at this point. This ensures their connection is shielded from people trying to snoop on their web activity. More importantly, it ensures the sites they reach are legit and the content originating from the journalists the site says it is.

If EARN IT becomes law, whistleblowers and other sources will see their secure options disappear. Tor, Signal, etc. will be considered nothing more than aiders and abettors of criminal activity. Anything secured by encryption will be treated as a virtual dead drop for criminal content.

Protecting children from exploitation is important. But the tradeoff legislators are demanding isn't actually a tradeoff. The American public will receive no net benefit from this tangential attack on encryption. Very often we're first informed about serious government misconduct by journalists. Destroying this outlet works out well for the government so often exposed as untrustworthy, but it does nothing for the governed.

Divestment is “more urgent” in Toronto than NYC

A growing list of large institutional investors around the world – state and provincial pension funds, university endowments, and most recently, New York City itself, have been aggressively divesting from fossil fuel investments so as to do their part in mitigating against climate change. Here in Toronto, it’s been a different story. Prominent institutional investors, […]

The post Habitat: Environmentalists eye city’s investment policies appeared first on Torontoist.

Dwayne Wade's home features a chef-caliber kitchen, multiple formal and informal living areas, a master suite, wine room, elevator, professional theater and — of course — a basketball court.

Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is selling his Plantation home, listed at $2.399 million.

Nine Los Angeles restaurants and chefs, including Jessica Koslow and Jeremy Fox, are on James Beard Foundation's list.

Green Bay Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis has listed his Hollywood condominium for sale at $1.399 million.

Reality TV star Scott Disick is still trying to flip his Hidden Hills farmhouse, relisting the two-story home for $6.25 million.

Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis has listed his estate in Westlake Village for $7.995 million. The gated, 2.33-acre compound features a basketball gymnasium and infinity-edge swimming pool.

In the mountains of Topanga, OneRepublic bassist Brent Kutzle is asking $2.195 million for the scenic retreat he bought a year ago.

Former Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who signed with the Indianapolis Colts this offseason, has listed his longtime home in San Diego for sale at $4.199 million.

Longtime Cowboy Jason Witten just put his Texas mansion on the market for $4.685 million.

In the Hollywood Hills, a home once owned by actor Rock Hudson is for sale at $3.75 million.

I wondered about what the next generation of journalists thought about the movie's message, and about the tensions between the press and government.

The three affected newspapers deplored what they said was an unprecedented attack on press freedom.

The Common Book initiative creates a shared experience for students, faculty, staff and administrators by...

strataconf: Innovative ways journalists are using data to tell stories http://t.co/y8RVUwHO4G Global open data, scholarships, mapping a civil war & more

The DML News App offers the best in news reporting.

The post REPORT: US issues new visa restrictions for country’s journalists appeared first on Dennis Michael Lynch.

The DML News App offers the best in news reporting.

The post REPORT: US slams new restrictions on journalists from this country appeared first on Dennis Michael Lynch.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been voted the winner of this year’s Chatham House Prize. 

Members Event

Event participants

Professor Sarah Cleveland, Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights; Faculty Co-Director, Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School

Amal Clooney, Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Chair, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada (2003-06)

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Director, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute

Lord Neuberger, President, Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2012-17)

Maria Ressa, CEO, Rappler Online News Network

Chair: Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG, Distinguished Fellow, International Law Programme, Chatham House

Alma L. Burlingame
Apr 1, 2020; 19:571-571
Editorial

Members Event

Event participants

Professor Sarah Cleveland, Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights; Faculty Co-Director, Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School

Amal Clooney, Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Chair, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada (2003-06)

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Director, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute

Lord Neuberger, President, Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2012-17)

Maria Ressa, CEO, Rappler Online News Network

Chair: Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG, Distinguished Fellow, International Law Programme, Chatham House

The same piece of evidence may reach you via a journalist, or via your doctor - but the way in which that evidence is communicated is changed by your relationship between that person. Julia Beluz from Vox and Victor Montori from the Mayo Clinic join us to discuss if it's possible to reconcile those competing points of view.

Mike Locksley and the Terrapins are making a push for local five-star Caleb Williams.

[between 1700 and 1799]

Bank of England Working Papers by Cristiano Cantore and Lukas Freund

THE SCOTTISH Government has been urged to empower the country’s towns and cities can be transformed into healthier hubs for walking and cycling amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pediatric specialists are increasingly involved in prenatal care, particularly for congenital fetal conditions. Questions remain about pediatricians’ role in the management of maternal conditions that may affect postnatal health, and the attitudes of obstetric and pediatric specialists around such care.

Obstetric and pediatric specialists’ attitudes differ substantially regarding pediatricians’ role in providing consultation for maternal conditions that may affect a child’s health postnatally, and regarding whether court authorization may be appropriate when a woman refuses certain treatment recommendations. (Read the full article)

There is wide variation in pediatric subspecialty supply in the United States. The impact of this variation in supply on utilization and child and family disease burden is not known.

Among children with special health care needs, living in a county with lower subspecialty supply was associated with lower perceived need for subspecialty care, lower subspecialty utilization, and no meaningful differences in examined measures of child and family disease burden. (Read the full article)

Dedication to student print journalism paid off for several Penn State Greater Allegheny student reporters and designers.

Entries from two Penn State students were among winners in categories for professional television journalists as part of the Keystone Media Awards.

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