Thank you, Bill!
AG Barr on Bill Gates wanting ‘digital’ vaccine ‘certificates’: I’m ‘very concerned about’ slippery slope
Daily Wire, Apr. 9, 2020
Attorney General William Barr told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night that he was “very concerned” about billionaire Bill Gates’ apparent desire to have “digital certificates” to show if people have been vaccinated against viruses.
“Bill Gates, the Gates Foundation are in favor of developing digital certificates that would certify that individuals, American citizens, have an immunity to this virus and potentially other viruses going forward to then facilitate travel and work and so forth,” Ingraham said. “What are your thoughts from a civil libertarian point of view about these types of – what some would say tracking mechanisms that would be adopted going forward to reopen our broader economy?”
“Yeah, I’m very concerned about the slippery slope in terms of continuing encroachments on personal liberty,” Barr responded. “I do think during the emergency, appropriate, reasonable steps are fine.”
“But a digital certificate to show who has recovered or been tested recently or when we have a vaccine who has – of people who’ve received it,” Ingraham continued. “That’s his answer in a Reddit ask me anything. They had a little forum.”
Barr answered, “Yeah, I’d be a little concerned about that, the tracking of people and so forth, generally, especially going forward over a long period of time.”
I bring to your attention a second, earlier article from Suzi on Patreon that shows Bill Barr really setting his sights high. I like what I hear from him.
Attorney General Bill Barr Targets Sex Trafficking by Internet Giants
Sean Moran, Breitbart, 19 Feb. 2020
Attorney General William Barr attacked Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act on Wednesday, suggesting that online platforms have not done enough to tackle sex trafficking and other problems that plague the Internet.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) hosted a workshop regarding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which is the provision that grants online platforms immunity from frivolous lawsuits when they host content on their platforms.
The attorney general claimed that large Internet platforms have avoided responsibility for “selling illegal and faulty products, connecting terrorists [and] facilitating child sexual exploitation.”
“Online services … have evoked [legal] immunity even where they solicited or encouraged unlawful conduct, shared in illegal proceeds or helped perpetrators hide from law enforcement,” Barr added.
Attorney General Barr blamed the federal courts for granting such a “broad interpretation” of the statute. The attorney general noted that the DOJ has yet to take an official position on Section 230.
Barr said that they could not delegate their law enforcement obligations to social media companies.
“Law enforcement cannot delegate our obligations to protect the safety of the American people purely to the judgment of profit-seeking private firms,” Barr said. “We must shape the incentives for companies to create a safer environment, which is what Section 230 was originally intended to do.”
The attorney general noted that the social media landscape has become more concentrated since Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act. Barr added that in the 1990s, online platforms simply hosted forums; in contrast, Facebook, Google, and other companies also provide their own content.
Barr largely attacked social media companies’ legal immunity that protects platforms for hosting content; however, he did not speak much of the “good faith” clause in Section 230 that allows social media companies to censor “obscene, lewd,” and other objectionable content. Many tech experts and conservatives argue that social media companies abuse the good faith clause to censor conservative and alternative content on the Internet.
“With these new tools, the line between passively hosting third-party speech and actively curating and promoting speech starts to blur,” he said.