US citizens: phone your senators to oppose the "EARN-IT" bill thatwould prohibit end-to-end encryption and require most online servicesto scan, for the government, all material they get from users.That's what Congress is consideringonce again, after it was shelvedfor public opposition in 2020. Now they are trying to rush it.I think this would require services to require users to run nonfreesoftware in order to use them.The bill is so extreme that if people communicate through an encryptedservice, and then commit a crime, that would be grounds to prosecutethe service. Why go off the deep end? I speculate that they figureto drop them (as a "compromise") while keeping the basic outrages.I found a campaign to contact senators to oppose this bill, but Ican't use it or recommend it, because it requires running nonfreeJavascript code. Web sites and services should be usable withJavascript disabled.Why not make an exception and run the nonfree software "for a goodcause"? Because once you make that kind of exception, once you allowa pervasive injustice to become part of how you fight otherinjustices, you've effectively legitimized that one.Those web sites could have been designed to function even with Javascriptdisabled, and they should be.The Capitol Switchboard numbers are+1-202-224-3121,+1-888-818-6641 and+1-888-355-3588.If you phone, please spread the word!