Thread by @EFF

Mexico's new #copyright law was passed in haste, without real consultation or debate, as part of the country's obligations under Trump's #USMCA. It's an unconstitutional catastrophe.

1/11

eff.org/deeplinks/2020…

The law poses grave risks to free expression rights, thanks to filters, takedowns, and DRM.

2/11

eff.org/deeplinks/2020…

But it also compromises the cybersecurity of the Mexican people, exposing them to surveillance and attacks by criminals and corrupt officials.

3/11

eff.org/deeplinks/2020…

The Mexican copyright law imports the USA's restrictions on removing digital locks. These locks are everywhere, used by giant corporations to prevent independent repair, lock out competing consumables and parts, and monopolize app stores.

4/11

This means that independent security researchers can't audit our devices and services and warn us about their defects. These bugs fester in devices we trust with our lives, waiting to be weaponized.

5/11

Cyber arms-dealers like the NSO Group sell weapons based on these bugs to dictators and thugs, including whoever hacked independent Mexican journalists:

6/11

threatpost.com/pegasus-spywar…

The same tools were used to target other Mexican NGOs, including anti-soft-drink campaigners. They even targeted a child:

7/11

citizenlab.ca/2017/06/reckle…

As Bruce Schneier says, "Anyone can design a security system that works so well they can't think of a way to defeat it. That doesn't mean it works, that just means it works against people stupider than them."

8/11

We can't rely on companies' own assurances about the security of our medical implants, cars, farm equipment and voting machines. Companies should not be in charge of when someone gets to warn us about defects in their products.

9/11

Mexico's new law lacks even the minimal (and inadequate) safeguards of the US version. Its "security exemption" is absolutely useless - it copies language that no US security researcher has been able to use in over 20 years.

10/11

Cybersecurity is a core issue to the exercise of human rights in the 21st century. Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights MUST act to overturn this dangerous law!

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