I had Shannon take this picture in my office at the ARA three minutes before I walked out for the last time. I learned a lot in this job -- about the real estate industry and about my own professional capabilities. But the most important thing I learned -- or maybe that I was reassured of -- is that I can handle whatever comes at me.
My best advice for you both: Commit yourself to a high standard of integrity, transparency, and sincerity. In your work, and in your life.
Live truthfully, and people will be eager to help you succeed in whatever you do. Be grateful when that happens. Tell them you are grateful.
🚨🚨 SENATE COMMITTEE MARKUP. SPread this everywhere! Leave message and email if can't talk to a person. Can call most states other than your own!
The KIDS Act passed the House, but the fight isn't over.
This Wednesday, August 5th, the Senate Commerce Committee will markup 5 bills.
SPAM THE Senator's NUMBERS!! MAKES THOSE PHONES RING OFF THE HOOK!!! Leave message if can't talk to a person. send emails on the Senator' website! there is a MASSIVE push to pass KOSA and SCREEN, and we MUST stop it.
kids-online-safety-act-will-make-internet-worse-everyone and
The SCREEN Act - An explicit age verification bill for the entire internet - and the senate version of KOSA with the duty of care portion are the most notable, amongst the others. This is not a package, but individual bills.
The list of harms in KOSA’s “duty of care” provision is so broad and vague that no platform will know what to do regarding any given piece of content. Forums won’t be able to host posts with messages like “love your body,” “please don’t do drugs,” or “here’s how I got through depression” without fearing that an attorney general or FTC lawyer might later decide the content was harmful. Support groups and anti-harm communities, which can’t do their work without talking about difficult subjects like eating disorders, mental health, and drug abuse, will get caught in the dragnet.
You know what to do.
We need calls driven to the Senate Commerce Committee members NOW. You can find them here: https://www.commerce.senate.gov/about/members/ OR below cut
If you need a call script, either use 🔗BadInternetBills or spend some time writing your own , see my own below for example
The SCREEN Act Threatens Privacy Far Beyond Adult Websites
Phone numbers and my own script below
SPREAD THIS EVERYWHERE.
@everyone
VOTE IS WEDNESDAY
My script
Hello I am calling about the Internet bills up for voting on August 5. Particularly the screen act and KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act) .
Te Screen act and Kosa would pressure companies to use age verification systems similar to the UK''s Online Safety Act, which led to a huge data leak because the personal information was stored in all one place.
KOSA also allows state attorney generals to sue any website for any reason, and its vague "duty of care" requirement has when tried at local legislation levels led to children having information topics like eating disorders censored for being considered too mature.
Please vote against spread the word to vote against these two bills this Wednesday! And also look carefully for similar problems in the other internet bills focused on AI.
Email starting ideas
Republican version of my script
Hello I am writing Internet bills up for voting on August 5: Particularly the Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) and Screen Act (S.737). I also ask you to look carefully for similar problems in the three AI bills also up for markup tomorrow.
The SCREEN would enable constant surveillance of American citizens, and put the sensitive data of everyone - especially children - at risk. It would pressure websites to contract with shady third-party verification companies to collect and store incredibly sensitive identifying info, like our drivers’ licenses and passports, in insecure databases. The UK's disastrous rollout of the Online Safety Act is a perfect example of how unpopular, dangerous, and ineffective these laws are. Age verification bills mandate or incentivize that personal data be collected all in one place, making it easy for hackers gather, endangering children' s information and safety.
KOSA not only has similar problems, but gives state attorney generals too much power to sue any website for any reason. The last thing we need is a nanny state telling adults what we can and cannot see online.
Please vote against and spread the word to vote against these two bills this Wednesday! And again I ask you to look carefully for similar problems in any other bills.
Democrat
Democrat version of my script
Hello I am writing Internet bills up for voting on August 5: Particularly the Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) and Screen Act (S.737). I also ask you to look carefully for similar problems in the three AI bills also up for markup tomorrow.
The SCREEN act enables constant surveillance of American citizens, and puts the sensitive data of everyone - especially children - at risk. It would pressure websites to contract with shady third-party verification companies to collect and store incredibly sensitive identifying info, like our drivers’ licenses and passports, in insecure databases. This was seen in the UK's disastrous rollout of the Online Safety Act is a perfect example of how unpopular, dangerous, and ineffective these laws are. Age verification bills mandate or incentivize that personal data be collected all in one place, making it easy for hackers to gather. This endangering children' s information and safety. With backing from far-right politicians and conservative groups, it’s clear what the Screen Act is really intended to do: censor our access to the Internet while collecting our data in droves.
KOSA not only has similar problems, but gives state attorney generals too much power to sue any website for any reason. Very worrisome in this time of political extremism. Past attempts at similar censorship at local levels with similarly vague "Duty of Care" requirements have led to kids facing difficulty finding resources to help with problems like anorexia; because the filters treated the mention of subjects like eating disorders, mental health, and drug abuse as too mature!.
Please vote against and spread the word to vote against these two bills this Wednesday! And again I ask you to look carefully for similar problems in any other bills.
