Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
We’ve talked a lot on Decoder about various attempts to regulate the internet in the United States and how they all run into the very simple fact that almost everything on the internet is speech, and the First Amendment prohibits most speech regulations in this country. Literally, it says, “Congress shall make no law…” and that’s why we don’t have any laws.
But there’s a major internet speech regulation currently making its way through Congress, and it has a really good chance of becoming law. It’s called KOSPA: the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, which passed in the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support late last month. You’ve probably heard of KOSPA’s predecessor KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act — it got bundled up with…
