That Oughta Work

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Burr, R-N.C. — eager to do something about ISIS’ social media prowess, whether or not it actually makes sense — have reintroduced a previously rejected provision that would force technology companies to report to the government any instances of “terrorist activity” that they notice online. The measure was stripped out of the 2016 intelligence authorization bill in late September; now it’s being proposed as standalone legislation.

The proposed bill is “modeled on existing law requiring companies to report child pornography,” according to a press release sent out by Feinstein’s and Burr’s offices.

  The Intercept

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a lot easier to recognize child pornography than it is to discern free speech from actionable terrorist threats.

Besides, if there weren't so much focus on trying to "collect it all" on every American, maybe the actual agencies charged with preventing terrorist attacks would have time and money to put a team on monitoring social media.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., held up the intelligence bill until Feinstein’s provision was removed, saying he “[took] the concerns that have been raised about its breadth and vagueness seriously.”

“It would certainly be fair to say that in addition to a perverse incentive for companies not to share, there could also be an incentive for companies to overshare,” Keith Chu, Wyden’s spokesperson, wrote in an email to The Intercept. “Both would be reasonable responses to the ambiguity the bill would create, and could well undermine efforts to identify legitimate terrorist threats.”

[...]

“Asking people to report — see something say something — creates this tidal wave of information,” said Michael German, a former undercover FBI agent who now works at the Brennan Center for Justice. “This system that they set up is designed to cast suspicion on a lot of people unnecessarily, which is then impossible to remove.”

[...]

“Social media companies are not intelligence agencies,” said Lee Rowland, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “When we export the job to private actors who don’t have training in identifying terrorists, that line between a crime and totally protected speech gets thinner and thinner.”

Until....poof!

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.