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FSF / Software Freedom / Digital Sovereignty Leftovers
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FSF ☛ Stop the GUARD Act and age verification laws worldwide
If passed, the GUARD Act would place a nationwide ban on minors using "chatbot" services, and would require all users of such services in the United States to submit to mandatory verification. In short, it would open the door to a "surveillance regime." Such a regime would make creating a free machine learning bundle almost, if not totally, impossible through its development restrictions and threats of criminialization. Say goodbye to the anonymous use of such tools, and hello to the suffocation of free software development and technology more generally.
While it's nominally about protecting children from chatbots, which are powered by so-called "artificial intelligence," the Act has wide-reaching implications for all software users -- and should be regarded as an existential threat to the entire free software movement. Chatbots and their ilk aren't popular with our movement, but that doesn't mean barring children from them is the right thing to do. What's at stake is freedom 0 as we know it: the right for anyone of any age, anywhere, to use any program for any purpose. This freedom should be regarded as a cornerstone for a free digital society. Even as I write this, we're teetering toward dystopia. Freedom 0 is a fight we can't afford to lose.
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Free Software Foundation ☛ Stop the GUARD Act and age verification laws worldwide
It always comes back to "protecting the children."
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Unicorn Media ☛ What Europe’s Digital Sovereignty Push Means for Open Source Platforms
Europe’s drive for digital sovereignty is reshaping how public agencies and regulated organizations choose, host, and govern open source platforms—from Drupal to Nextcloud.