A New Bill Would Force Tech Companies to Report Their Users for Drugs

upstart writes:

A New Bill Would Force Tech Companies to Report Their Users for Drugs:

The Cooper Davis Act would force tech companies to report suspected drug activity to the government. Experts say it would be a disaster for digital privacy.

Internet drug sales have skyrocketed in recent years, allowing powerful narcotics to be peddled to American teenagers and adolescents. It's a trend that's led to an epidemic of overdoses and left countless young people dead. Now, a bill scheduled for a congressional vote seeks to tackle the problem, but it comes with a major catch. Critics worry that the legislative effort to crack down on the drug trade could convert large parts of the internet into a federal spying apparatus.

The Cooper Davis Act [...] has been under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee for weeks. Named after a 16-year-old Kansas boy who died of a fentanyl overdose two years ago, the bipartisan bill, which the committee is scheduled to vote on Thursday, has spurred intense debate. Proponents say it could help address a spiraling public health crisis; critics, meanwhile, see it as a gateway to broad and indiscriminate internet surveillance.

Gizmodo spoke with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation-two organizations involved in the policy discussions surrounding the bill. Both groups expressed concern over the impact the proposed law could have on internet privacy. "There are some very real problems with this bill-both in how it's written and how it's conceptualized," said India McKinney, an analyst with the EFF.

Critics argue that, at its worst, the bill would effectively "deputize" internet platforms as informants for the DEA, creating an unwieldy surveillance apparatus that may have unintended consequences down the line.

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