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SIIA Statement on Senate Passage of S. 2073 Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act

by Policy

The following statement from the Software & Information Industry Association following Senate passage of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) can be attributed to Paul Lekas, Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy.

The digital and real worlds are more interconnected than ever, and with more of our children’s learning and social experiences occurring online, we must take care to ensure the online experience is as safe as possible for our children. As policymakers have grappled with this important issue, they have increasingly encountered the difficulty of shaping solutions that avoid lasting and negative unintended consequences that ultimately make the problem worse. Such is the case with some provisions of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act that the Senate passed today.

Putting guardrails in place to protect the internet’s most vulnerable users is a worthwhile effort, but this particular legislation would do more harm than good. The duty of care will require companies to aggressively filter content and age gate content putting users’ privacy at risk. Although this bill has advanced in the Senate, we urge lawmakers to work toward fixing the problems in the legislation to ensure a safer online experience for America’s children without the unintended consequences of the current bill.

The bill also includes the Filter Bubble Act which has not received the same attention as the rest of the bill. This bill effectively instructs large companies how to display content to their users instead of allowing the company to customize based on the users’ interests. Instead of allowing companies to respond to what their users want, they will need to respond to the demands of elected officials.

Background

Before final passage, SIIA, along with many other organizations, called on the Senate to address concerns about the age verification, privacy, and content filtering measures contained in KOSA as detailed in this letter. While SIIA understands the importance of protecting our children online, the Senate moved forward on the bill without addressing these specific issues.

More from SIIA on the Kids Online Safety Act can be found here.

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SIIA Expresses Concerns Over Senate’s Decision to End Debate on Kids’ Online Safety Legislation

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The following statement from the Software & Information Industry Association can be attributed to Paul Lekas, Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy and Sara Kloek, Vice President, Education and Children’s Policy.

We are disappointed that the Senate voted today to end debate on a legislation package that includes the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0).  In its current form, rather than keep kids and teens safe online, we fear the legislation will prevent kids and teens from accessing important educational and even lifesaving content, increase exposure of Americans’ personal data and expose Americans to new cybersecurity risks. The legislation also raises concerns about consistent enforcement of content-based laws. 

We have raised these serious concerns with Senators and, while we appreciate the efforts made to address some issues, we will continue to urge Senators to vote against this legislative package when it comes up for a vote next week. 

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SIIA Supports the VET AI Act

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The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) supports the VET AI Act, emphasizing its role in fostering responsible AI development and deployment while maintaining U.S. innovation leadership. In a letter alongside other industry leaders, Paul Lekas, SIIA’s Head of Global Public Policy & Government Affairs, stated, “The introduction of this legislation is an important step towards advancing the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies and supporting U.S. innovation and leadership in AI. As the pace of AI advancement continues to accelerate, pragmatic guardrails are important to maximize the benefits of AI while minimizing potential risks.” The act’s directive for NIST to develop specifications, guidelines, and recommendations ensures a trustworthy AI ecosystem, addressing privacy protections, harm mitigation, dataset quality, and governance.
Full Statement
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SIIA Supports Sen. Daines’ Amendment to the NDAA

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The following statement can be attributed to Chris Mohr, President, Software & Information Industry Association.

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is proud to support Senator Steve Daines’ (R-MT) amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) permitting financial institutions’ service providers to access and custody beneficial ownership information (BOI) data. This common sense fix helps alleviate the burden on financial institutions to comply with key anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements.

The amendment would permit these financial institutions’ service providers to apply to FinCEN and receive a license to obtain and analyze BOI. BOI is a critical piece of information used to uncover and screen against the often complex structures that aid money laundering efforts, drug traffickers, terrorist financiers, and other illicit actors. Unfortunately, financial institutions are often unable to fully incorporate and analyze this data on their own.

By permitting service providers with demonstrated expertise to access this information, the amendment enables critical US national security interests and alleviates compliance burdens on domestic small businesses.

SIIA looks forward to working with Congress to advance this legislation.

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SIIA and Coalition Oppose Kids Online Safety Act Due to Unaddressed Concerns

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Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), along with other organizations, opposes the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) under consideration in the U.S. Senate. The groups raise concerns about the Act, including constitutional and privacy issues, and the consistent enforcement of content-based laws. They argue that KOSA’s Duty of Care requirements may lead to excessive content filtering, restricting access to educational and lifesaving information protected by the First Amendment. Additionally, the Act could lead to privacy-invasive age verification measures, which pose risks to both young people and adults. Despite ongoing discussions with Senate members, these concerns remain unaddressed. The organizations urge the Senate to vote against the legislation unless these issues are resolved.
Full Letter Here