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Matunos

@yogthos the subsection a referred to is this?

not to say an inventive prosecutor might not try, but it seems quite a stretch to say an individual using a VPN to access a service like Tiktok for themselves would be violating any of those provisions
28 Mar 2023 at 22:34 | Wall-to-wall | Open on mastodon.social
8 comments
Yogthos

@matunos the bill is intentionally worded in open ended fashion. This bit in particular means that effectively any piece of hardware or software could fall under the law
28 Mar 2023 at 23:24 | Open on mas.to
Matunos

@yogthos that's a definition, but the clause that references it in section (a) makes it harder to fit with an individual using a VPN simply to bypass IP range blocks (unless they're doing a lot more, like offering a public proxy)…

it's also unclear how the US government would even impose filtering such that a VPN is required for access, unless the service itself (eg TikTok) imposed a country filter

(1) poses an undue or unacceptable risk of— (A) sabotage or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of information and communications technology products and services in the United States;
29 Mar 2023 at 0:07 | Open on mastodon.social
Yogthos

@matunos it doesn't appear to be worded in a way that focuses on individual, but it can also be construed that you are providing yourself a service using your own VPN. Also consider any distributed technologies like tor. By using tor you became a node and handle data for others.

This is an absolutely draconian law.

29 Mar 2023 at 0:11 | Open on mas.to
Matunos

@yogthos yes I can definitely see them going after someone for using tor or running an open proxy service for a prohibited service, effectively becoming a middlemen for the banned service (though in the case of tor the question of intention might come in

29 Mar 2023 at 0:15 | Open on mastodon.social
Jake in the desert

@yogthos @matunos it's nuts. And seems like one of those ridiculous over-arching things that would be nearly impossible to enforce probably, like most of their stupid ideas like this (thankfully) 🙄🤣 but it's still insanely concerning and gross.

29 Mar 2023 at 13:53 | Open on c.im
Yogthos

@jake4480 @matunos I think the idea isn't that it's going to be enforced universally, instead it'll just be used to target people. That's the really scary part of this kind of a law. Once an individual is targeted then this kind of law can be used to slap a draconian sentence on them for having a vpn, or having visited a website at some point.

29 Mar 2023 at 13:56 | Open on mas.to
Jake in the desert

@yogthos @matunos that's true, just the chance that they'll be able to use it for whatever, there shouldn't be laws like this that they can pervert to serve whatever interest they feel like on a given day. Political overreach

29 Mar 2023 at 14:09 | Open on c.im
LisPi

@yogthos @jake4480 @matunos Russia has a lot of laws like that one. Selectively applied, indeed.

29 Mar 2023 at 16:34 | Open on mastodon.top
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