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Friends,
Our 1st Amendment Rights are being threatened in the State of Oregon.
Oregon legislators from both the House and the Senate joined with me on a letter to the Oregon Secretary of State demanding an immediate halt to the implementation of a contract with a UK-based, AI company to "combat misinformation" about Oregon elections. The Secretary of State would determine what is or isn't misinformation.
This company (logically.ai), uses AI to identify misinformation "threats" and develop counter-narratives. They would also report to and urge social media platforms to suppress users if the Secretary of State deems our speech in violation. We have seen censorship like this play out on a national level by the White House, CDC, and FBI against American citizens (read about the federal case involving Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.) We cannot stand by while our own Oregon Secretary of State attempts these same infringements.
This should not be a partisan issue - a tool like this can be abused by any party in power. It is not the role of the state to act as a Ministry of Truth and attempt to suppress the free exchange of ideas. Suppressing free speech simply encourages the spread of conspiracy theories and bad information. I urge Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike to contact the Secretary of State and share your concerns.
I am pleased that so many of my colleagues joined me in this call to protect the 1st Amendment rights of Oregonians from government overreach and I hope to see more join the effort.
This is just the beginning. The fight doesn't end with this letter.
Our letter to the Secretary of State is included below. Note: I learned after I submitted this letter that the contract for the current RFP has NOT been signed, and the SoS had already contracted with the vendor in 2022 for a pilot project.
Here's the link to the referenced Request for Proposal.
Yours truly,
 Representative Ed Diehl
House District 17
   
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1417
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-378, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.EdDiehl@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/diehl
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