Legislators Vote Forward Bill That Would Turn Tech Platforms Into DEA Narcs – By Lucas Ropek (Gizmodo) / July 14, 2023
The controversial Cooper Davis Act has been voted out of committee, meaning it will take another step towards enactment.
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted forward a bill that would force tech companies to report web users to the Drug Enforcement Agency if they suspected them of engaging in criminal drug activity. The controversial Cooper Davis Act, named so after a Kansas teenager who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2021, has rankled privacy advocates, who see the proposed legislation as a gateway to broad internet surveillance efforts by the federal government. Proponents of the bill say it would help crack down on illicit drug markets that have been proliferating on social media platforms.
The committee, which had been debating the bill for weeks, voted to advance it 16-5. The proposed law now heads to the Senate floor, where it could soon be subject to a debate and a general vote.
Numerous advocacy groups that had warned against the passage of the legislation released statements on Thursday condemning the committee’s decision. Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the following:
“The Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote today to advance the Cooper Davis Act to the Senate floor is a misstep. The bill will expand law enforcement’s access to user data, undermine the protections of Constitutional statutory warrant requirements, and exacerbate existing racial disparities in criminal drug enforcement. Platforms are not equipped to be deputized as DEA informants, and this bill will likely cause more harm than it heals. We urge the full Senate to reject this approach.”
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