“the Arts And Sciences Are Completely Separate Fields That Should Be Pitted Against Each Other” The

URGENT! Stop KOSA!

Hey all, this is BáiYù and Sauce here with something that isn't necessarily SnaccPop related, but it's important nonetheless. For those of you who follow US politics, The Kids Online Safety Act passed the Senate yesterday and is moving forward.

This is bad news for everyone on the internet, even outside of the USA.

What is KOSA?

While it's officially known as "The Kids Online Safety Act," KOSA is an internet censorship masquerading as another "protect the children" bill, much in the same way SESTA/FOSTA claimed that it would stop illegal sex trafficking but instead hurt sex workers and their safety. KOSA was originally introduced by Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass. and Bill Cassidy, R-La. as a way to update the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Act, raising the age of consent for data collection to 16 among other things. You can read the original press release of KOSA here, while you can read the full updated text of the bill on the official USA Congress website.

You can read the following articles about KOSA here:

EFF: The Kids Online Safety Act is Still A Huge Danger to Our Rights Online

CyberScoop: Children’s online safety bills clear Senate hurdle despite strong civil liberties pushback

TeenVogue: The Kids Online Safety Act Would Harm LGBTQ+ Youth, Restrict Access to Information and Community

The quick TL;DR:

KOSA authorizes an individual state attorneys general to decide what might harm minors

Websites will likely preemptively remove and ban content to avoid upsetting state attorneys generals (this will likely be topics such as abortion, queerness, feminism, sexual content, and others)

In order for a platform to know which users are minors, they'll require a more invasive age and personal data verification method

Parents will be granted more surveillance tools to see what their children are doing on the web

KOSA is supported by Christofascists and those seeking to harm the LGBTQ+ community

If a website holding personally identifying information and government documents is hacked, that's a major cybersecurity breach waiting to happen

What Does This Mean?

You don't have to look far to see or hear about the violence being done to the neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ communities worldwide, who are oftentimes one and the same. Social media sites censoring discussion of these topics would stand to do even further harm to folks who lack access to local resources to understand themselves and the hardships they face; in addition, the fact that websites would likely store personally identifying information and government documents means the death of any notion of privacy.

Sex workers and those living in certain countries already are at risk of losing their ways of life, living in a reality where their online activities are closely surveilled; if KOSA officially becomes law, this will become a reality for many more people and endanger those at the fringes of society even worse than it already is.

Why This Matters Outside of The USA

I previously mentioned SESTA/FOSTA, which passed and became US law in 2018. This bill enabled many of the anti-adult content attitudes that many popular websites are taking these days as well as the tightening of restrictions laid down by payment processors. Companies and sites hosted in the USA have to follow US laws even if they're accessible worldwide, meaning that folks overseas suffer as well.

What Can You Do?

If you're a US citizen, contact your Senators and tell them that you oppose KOSA. This can be as an email, letter, or phone call that you make to your state Senator.

For resources on how to do so, view the following links:

https://www.badinternetbills.com/#kosa

https://www.stopkosa.com/

https://linktr.ee/stopkosa

If you live outside of the US or cannot vote, the best thing you can do is sign the petition at the Stop KOSA website, alert your US friends about what's happening, and raise some noise.

Above all else, don’t panic. By staying informed by what’s going on, you can prepare for the legal battles ahead.

The actual zodiac signs

Aries: really fucking arrogant Taurus: bossy as fuck Gemini: two-faced spawn of satan Cancer: kinda nice and cries a lot Leo: talks way too much Virgo: overanalyzes everything Libra: probably hella boring Scorpio: has a collection of knives Sagittarius: keep your opinions to yourself Capricorn: lucifer’s servant Aquarius: hella weird and judgemental Pisces: way naive and probably gay

Your sixth most recent emoji is how your guardian angel feels about you

Hello Superstars! <3

I've called your attention to a super bad group/bill called, KOSA.

That's a great question, Moon!

KOSA is an organization that claims, 'to speak for GEN Z'; in reality, it is trying to pass a bill that will expose minors to their parents, completely make the internet be under all government control, and ban all lgbtqia+ /queer things, etc. off the internet to 'protect minors'.

Kosa was passed for mark up today (NOT PASSED AS A LAW.)

I know things seem dreary and hopeless, but DO NOT GIVE UP, contact your governers, sign petetions, to stop KOSA.

>POST TELLING INFO ABOUT KOSA, AND HOW TO STOP IT.

>INTERNET CENSORSHIP FAQ

>BAD INTERNET BILLS

> What can you do?

rb to also cast destruction of the entire us governement xoxox

I already made that post a while back but it bears repeating: you need to rid yourself of the idea that fandom is some kind of natural phenomenon you have no power over. Fics don't sprout out of existence the same way rain starts falling. Ships don't become popular the same way hurricanes grow. It's people who make art of your blorbos, it's people who get into shipping and headcanons and such.

Which means that you, personally, have the power to influence how shit go in your fandom. I often see people complaining about how "urgh why is this ship unpopular" or "why isn't there more content about xyz" and such, and while I certainly understand the sentiment you have to realize that you can change that. You can make art yourself. You can commission someone to make art for you. You can post headcanons or concepts or ideas online, even if they're not prettily worded or only half-finished. You can encourage people who do create the shit you wanna see by sending them nice asks, or reblogging their stuff, or commenting on their fics.

Trying to shame or guilt people into not making what they like in favor of doing what you like is a doomed endeavor (as well as a dick move.) However, being loud and passionate about the shit you do like can go a long way- I say this as someone who got multiple people to ship characters who have never interacted in canon. You can do it! It costs nothing to try! I believe in you! :)

I don't want to ask AI a question. I don't want AI to write my sentences for me, at all ever. I don't want AI search bars to be the default and I don't want them to be in such a way that I can't opt out. I don't want this kind of AI in my life and there is no such thing as AI art, there is only theft of art from human artists by AI scrappers. I don't want any of this, I hate it. Maybe in a world that isn't driven by tech bro capitalism we can see machines doing all the dangerous inane things so humans can be free to pursue life and creativity. But that's not what's happening right now and I hate it.

My dad was dealing with some mixed feelings so I told him "In therapy when something is too complicated to do a simple 'pro and contra list' we sometimes do an excercise where you imagine all these mixed feelings around a table in some kind of conference, letting each tell their bit and you leading the debate."

and my dad didn't really respond and just stared ahead so I kept preparing lunch. Until a few minutes later when he suddenly piped up: "I am having a bad time at the conference"

Do you'll ever just feel like screaming to the void?

im so obsessed with these pictures. they're actually the only thing in my head rn. He's all I think about