If you’ve been living anywhere but on a remote island with no cell service, you’ll know that technology and, more specifically, our online presence and habits pretty much rule the world. Thankfully, at least one man is willing to ensure that our online practices are both safe AND constitutional.
Enter Florida’s Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis.
As you’ve probably heard quite a bit about online censorship over the last couple of years, online censorship has become very real. Not only are certain and quite clearly biased groups not allowing us to say what we want or think, but in doing so, they are limiting what our communities and we see and hear.
And the problems only grow from there.
Thanks to things like the recently divulged “Twitter Files,” we know that big tech censorship has become rather deeply and terrifyingly rooted in our politics, law enforcement, and our lives in general.
And while these issues should be handled according to our First Amendment rights, there has been a massive disconnect between the two.
But that’s where DeSantis and his big ideas come in.
On Wednesday, the man quickly becoming known as “America’s governor” proposed what he is calling the “Digital Bill of Rights.” Comprised of five basic parts, the legislation is aimed first and foremost at protecting the people of his state from the harms of big tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google.
According to the proposed bill, Floridians have the right to participate in online platforms and to do so without being censored. They also have the right to talk to over private citizens in conversations that are not tracked or surveilled by those same big tech companies.
Additionally, we should be informed on how search engines work and how they manipulate results.
Our children should also be protected, meaning that companies shouldn’t be allowed to sell the information of minors without the consent of their parents or guardians. And as adults, we should have control over our personal data, not over the platforms we participate in.
As DeSantis explained, implementing these laws in Florida would mean your cell phone and other devices could no longer be tracked. Without your say-so, they couldn’t access your GPS locations, biometric data, or additional personal information. Hell, they couldn’t even collect such data for internal purposes without your authorization.
This alone would be a game-changer. Can you imagine not being tracked by your phone at all times, not having things that are scarily accurate to your interests and where you live?
Then, of course, there is added benefit of not being censored as you make conversations online or just want to find out meaningful information.
Currently, this is all but impossible. Social media sites have been allowed to form partnerships with agencies like the FBI, DoD, and more, all with the intent of controlling the narrative.
I mean, what would have happened if, in the early days of COVID and beyond, Dr. Fauci had not had his thumb over what was right and wrong about the newfound disease? Would masking have turned into a mandate, would there have been such a push for vaccines?
Or what about the 2020 presidential election? The whole Hunter Biden laptop scandal would usually be enough to count any candidate out of the race. But thanks to online censorship and companies being married to federal agencies, most of us didn’t know much about it until it was too late, and Biden was already supposedly voted in.
Seriously, the number of things that censorship, online platforms, and big tech companies have their hand in is frightening. And whether you know it or not, it plays a huge part in our daily lives and our beliefs.
Luckily, Floridians have an amazing protector in DeSantis, someone who’s willing to stand up against corruption and ensure that our rights remain intact. Hopefully, the idea will catch on in other states, too.
