OAMA & KOSA Still Violate the First Amendment
Plus spam, surveillance, obscenity, judicial ethics, and more
OAMA: Last week, Berin and Ari were joined by a coalition of leading civil society groups and Internet law academics in a letter to express our concerns about the Open App Markets Act (OAMA). For more, check out Ari’s Twitter thread, our quote in Law360 and MediaPost, and our first two letters on the bill from February.
KOSA: Ari appeared on the Ipse Dixit podcast to discuss our coalition letter for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Even as the sponsors make changes, Ari explains why these revisions are still “pretty bad.” Our letter was also the topic of a MediaPost article.
Spam: Corbin has an essay in The Bulwark this week discussing the GOP’s massive—and misguided—spam operation. Among other uncomfortable questions, Corbin asks: why is the GOP, once the self-styled party of wholesome American morality, unabashedly bamboozling its supporters?
Tech and Freedom: Corbin was the guest on this week’s episode of City Journal’s 10 Blocks podcast. The conversation touched on tech-based surveillance in China, the emergence (or not?) of a social credit system in the United States, and Elon Musk’s new era of Twitter.
Judicial Ethics: We joined a coalition letter urging the Senate to remove Section 5934 from the NDAA—which allows the government to censor judicial ethics information published on the internet. Our analysis was quoted in The Daily Caller and Ohio Star.
Obscenity: Ari’s panel on obscenity with the First Amendment Museum is finally live. Tune in watch Ari and others discuss the incoherence of obscenity doctrine and how it has been abused, and why we should be extremely wary of doctrines that give the government power to stifle expression it doesn’t like.
FTC: At this month’s FTC open meeting, Bilal recommended legislative changes to Section 8 and the HSR Act (skip to 12:19). His comments were referenced by Commissioner Slaughter later at the meeting (skip to 18:34). For a summary of the event, see Andy’s Twitter thread.
Image via freepik.