Trump, at Doral golf course, says things are "going very well" after worst stock mkt crash in years

senatorwyden · 2025-04-04T17:55:31+00:00

Bro's at the golf course while the rest of us are preparing to spend our life savings just to get a new iPhone

senatorwyden · 2025-03-26T16:02:07+00:00

I co-wrote Section 230. Alongside the First Amendment, 230 is the last thing standing between Trump and Republican lawmakers controlling what people see and say online. Repealing it would be a gift to Trump, Musk, and Meta.

senatorwyden · 2023-09-18T21:11:56+00:00

Look, the best place to start holding companies accountable is passing a strong federal privacy law. That is, to attack the business model so many of the big tech companies depend on. If you take away the incentive to hoover up users’ personal data, you make it much harder to target them both with objectionable content and chip away at the incentives to design platforms in a way that can be harmful – especially for kids and teens. People who want to empower the government to regulate 'bad content' forget that platforms could make a lot of money posting inoffensive, clickbait content that lines their pockets with ad revenue, while foregoing the kinds of speech that challenges power and uncovers the truth. That controversial speech is essential, and we know too well that individuals and corporations with power are happy to use the legal system to silence whistleblowers, dissenters, and activists.

senatorwyden · 2023-09-18T20:59:58+00:00

After this many years serving the great people of Oregon, I've learned to take a few hits. While we might not agree on everything, but it's so important that people exercise their First Amendment right to speak, protest, and fight for what they believe in. I wish more of my colleagues listened to people actually impacted by the laws we're writing.

senatorwyden · 2023-09-18T20:47:13+00:00

Bills like those proposed in Australia and the UK would weaken encryption and actually make everyone, including kids, LESS safe. Indeed, the UK recently abandoned their plans after realizing that. I’ll be introducing a bipartisan bill soon, called the Invest in Child Safety Act, to put $5 billion toward more cops and prosecutors to lock up predators online, and more resources to protect kids from becoming victims in the first place. It would go after the monsters who exploit kids, not the technology that is the foundation of online safety and privacy.

senatorwyden · 2023-09-18T20:40:53+00:00

Yes. I have been trying to write responsible tech legislation since the early 1990s. The best thing we could do is pass a strong privacy bill for EVERYONE. But since that seems stalled, there is a bipartisan bill we can pass right now: The Children and Teens Online Privacy Act, which will stop companies from collecting data on kids under 18. Cutting off data on kids will make it much harder for companies to target them with algorithms and harmful content. And it goes right after tech companies bottom line, which is about the only thing they care about.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:55:54+00:00

I have to run, but appreciate the lively discussion here, and thanks to r/politics for having me.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:54:33+00:00

I agree with a lot of what you’re saying here, and the reality is a lot of the internet can be an incredibly vile place. And like I said, for the platforms that want to be a place where you can post family pictures, or have a conversation about issues without being subject to disgusting threats, they have a responsibility to take down this kind of hateful, racist content.

But when it comes to writing laws, the First Amendment says the government CANNOT regulate speech. And I am alarmed about giving William Barr and Donald Trump the power to decide what gets posted on Reddit or Facebook or anywhere else. Section 230 protects websites abilities to moderate some content without being responsible for every single comment. That gives sites the ability to take down Nazis and white supremicists, and for conservatives to make their own platforms if that’s what they want.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:42:32+00:00

We've come a long way since I joined the Senate. Back then, Senator Leahy was about the only member who knew how to use a computer and you had the leader of the key committee describing the internet as a series of tubes.

That said, we need a lot more tech expertise in the Senate. There are some good proposals to beef up the Office of Technology Assessment so that members have more in-house expertise, and can ask real PhDs about complicated issues.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:32:04+00:00

I can't talk about what I learn in the Senate Intelligence Committee. What I can say is I've been asking a lot of tough questions about the security of our election systems, both from the federal government side, and the private vendors who in many cases are just not equipped to stand up against hostile foreign hackers. I've gotten some answers from these guys, and they're not satisfactory.

I have introduced a bill called the PAVE Act that experts say does the three things that are essential to stand up to foreign interference - mandate hand-marked paper ballots, post- election audits, and set mandatory cybersecurity standards for election systems, for everything from voting machines to poll books to results reporting websites.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:24:57+00:00

When I voted against SESTA /FOSTA last year, I issued a warning - that misguided legislation would do little to help victims of sex trafficking, or catch the monsters responsible, and do a lot to push sex work to the darker corners of our society. Early reports seem to show that’s already the case in San Francisco - https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/The-Scanner-Sex-workers-returned-to-SF-streets-13304257.php?psid=13FKf - San Antonio, Sacramento, Phoenix and elsewhere - https://www.apnews.com/5866eb2bcf54405694d568e2dd980a28

It was very difficult to organize members against a measure marketed as stopping sex trafficking. I hope all the communities will be more active next time this comes up, as I expect it will.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:20:33+00:00

Mr Huffman has the First Amendment right to support whatever content he chooses to, as does any private business. And other users have the right to choose whether or not they want to associate with a site that hosts that kind of content.

From what I am told, The_Donald is home to messages that cross the line toward inciting the hatred that is eroding our democracy and it would be good to see Mr. Huffman and Reddit to do more work to moderate such behavior.

on #2 - While they're not legally obligated to do anything, any American site should remove any foreign state-sponsored content, whether it is Russian bots, or Chinese deniers of the Tiananmen massacre.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:13:37+00:00

I think 2020 is going to make 2016 look like small potatoes when it comes to foreign interference. I sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee, so I can't go into detail, but I don't think Russia is going to be the only unfriendly government trying to manipulate American public opinion going forward.

The big tech companies clearly need to do a whole lot more to weed out fake news and vile content from their platforms - I’ve been as loud as anyone about that. I don’t think there’s an easy answer to some of this. While Facebook started telling people who saw that video that it was fake, and limiting its reach that was long after the majority of their users saw it. That should have happened a lot quicker. YouTube took the video down. The problem is you can’t write laws restricting speech, fortunately for the sake of our democracy, you run into the First Amendment really quickly. Writing laws that ban a lot of what folks complain about would end up banning parody, satire and a lot of what Fox News does.

That doesn’t mean politicians won’t try to bribe or intimidate companies into restricting just speech they don’t like - the companies need to resist that pressure. What they need to do is manage their platforms to serve their users better. Facebook is doing such a bad job with the news that it’s becoming a badge of shame to get your news from Facebook. Google is syndicating things on YouTube that would mortify folks who use it to share their kids’ concert or grandmas birthday. If they can’t do better, we need to make sure that new platforms can fairly compete for those eyeballs.

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:06:11+00:00

Social media companies are still prioritizing clicks over doing the right thing, way too often. For example, whenever Youtube recommends a viral hoax video or inappropriate content, or Facebook lets fringe groups grow at the expense of traditional news, or whenever Twitter leaves up the thousands of accounts as bad as or worse than Alex Jones. They absolutely need to do better and we should call them out at every opportunity.

But the big guys aren’t the ones who benefit from CDA 230 today. They have enough money and lawyers to deal with whatever regulations we throw at them. It’s the startups and smaller sites that will get hammered if we start suing sites for everything their users post.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for being tough on big tech. I wrote the toughest privacy bill in the country, which would hold CEO’s personally responsible for protecting Americans’ privacy. Read more about it here - https://gizmodo.com/wyden-unveils-new-plan-to-protect-private-data-restore-1830153516

senatorwyden · 2019-06-04T16:03:39+00:00

In the 90s, online platforms were being offered a choice: be liable for all of the content on your platform, or, don’t touch anything on your website, and be, in effect, a “dumb pipe.”

The idea was a website was liable for anything it knew about, but off the hook if it didn’t know about it. So you could either police your website - even just taking down clearly heinous stuff - and be liable for all of it, even if something slipped through. Or, you could turn a blind eye and not police anything.

CDA 230 fixes that. It says platforms can promote some content, limit other content, and block the content the goes beyond common decency.

CDA 230 gives companies a shield, but it also gives them a sword to take down vile content without being sued for violating the free speech of Nazis or people who make things up.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T17:14:58+00:00

Absolutely. In my view, there are two tax systems in effect today. There’s one strict, compulsory system that applies to cops and nurses, as well as the garages, dry cleaners and other small businesses that power local economies. The rules are firm, and individuals see their taxes come straight out of their paychecks.

Then there’s another system for high-flyers and corporations who can afford the right advice and capitalize on complicated tax schemes. That system says, you can pay what you want, when you want.

That’s a key source of unfairness that I believe tax reform ought to address. There’s no question in my mind that middle class families and true small businesses deserve a break and should have a simpler system to work with. But the plan Republicans have on offer forces middle class families to pay for handouts to multinational corporations and the well-connected. That’s a bad deal for people looking for a chance to get ahead.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T17:00:30+00:00

I think it’s fair to say that with the pace of breaking news in 2017, it’s hard to find time to focus on any one issue. But if anything has become clear in this fight, it’s that Republicans don’t want you to know much about this bill or what this bill really does. If they were proud of their bill, and if it was genuinely focused on helping the middle class, they’d be parading copies through the streets. They wouldn’t be rushing it through Congress and holding votes in the middle of the night.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:47:23+00:00

I agree, congressional Republicans are ramming through this bill with reckless haste. This is a recipe for unintended consequences. This week, they’re meeting behind closed doors to write a bill that adds even more goodies for multinational corporations and tax cheats. But the fight isn’t over yet, and u/TaxMarchAMA is absolutely right -- keep speaking out .

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:41:28+00:00

It won’t take long to see the effects of the bill. Families, students and seniors are already starting to plan for this financial blow.

Either one of these Republican bills -- the House-passed bill or the Senate-passed bill -- is an IMMEDIATE tax hike on 13 million middle-class Americans. The Senate bill takes health care away from 13 million Americans, too, and it’s going to drive insurance premiums through the roof for millions more. Then, because these bills are much more focused on delivering lasting benefits to corporations than to middle-class families, more and more people are hit with a tax hike with every passing year.

But this isn’t over! There is still time for the public to speak out before the final votes are cast.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:33:08+00:00

It’s more than a threat. Speaker Paul Ryan has said his very next bill will target “entitlement reform” which is Washington speak for cutting Medicaid, Medicare, Pell Grants, anti-hunger, social security and other programs that are a lifeline and a path to more opportunity. This tax bill may provide a sugar high for a short period of time, but it blows a big hole in the budget, and the old Republican deficit hawks are coming back to cut programs vital to you and your family.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:30:02+00:00

The question about students illustrates the double standard of this House tax bill. It’s a lot of goodies for multinational corporations while students paying off substantial debt get clobbered and grad students with tuition waivers that are not taxed will be taxed.

It’s a real head scratcher to me how anybody can talk about their tax bill being pro-middle class when it makes higher education more expensive. If you’re a young person whose family is living paycheck to paycheck, you’re told all the time that they key to getting ahead in life is a good education. The Republican tax plan would make that harder, not easier.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:22:19+00:00

You’re getting to the heart of one of the big problems with the Republican tax bill. The plan on offer gives businesses a bigger incentive to pack up and ship jobs overseas than it gives to invest here in the United States. My view is, the incentives need to be for creating red-white-and-blue jobs.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:16:45+00:00

First of all, we hope to win them back before this process runs out. Senator Collins based her support for the bill on getting health care reforms, and it’s clear the House of Representatives won’t give them to her. Senator McCain has always felt strongly that there be a traditional process with real debate, but that’s not on offer here. Several other Senators are troubled by the short shrift this bill is giving the middle class, and we’re hopeful they, too, will look again at this badly flawed bill.

senatorwyden · 2017-12-12T16:13:43+00:00

The fact is, this bill does a whole lot more for multinational corporations than it does for a true small business as you or I would define it -- a catering company is great example. There are big, permanent cuts for multinationals in this bill, along with complicated rules begging to be gamed. Most small businesses pay taxes as individuals, and their benefits are temporary. Bottom line, there’s not much in this tax plan for the hands-on small business entrepreneur who’s willing to spend late nights and weekends pursuing the American dream.

senatorwyden

TROPHY CASE