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Internet Access and Computer Fraud Laws

Posted by michael on from the rated-p-for-parole-in-12-14-years dept.

DrJimbo writes "Groklaw has an explanatory article covering the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in layman's terms. The article discusses legal precedents that might make it illegal to access much of the internet. The article is a response to a claim by SCO that IBM violated the CFAA by downloading GPL'ed software from SCO's public HTTP and FTP sites."

5 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Illegal to access much of the internet? by StevenHenderson · · Score: 4, Funny
    Go outside and lay touch football or something.

    You might want to wine and dine the football before you go for home...

  2. No more RTFA ?? by ParadoxicalPostulate · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess that means we can no longer blame people for not RTFA - hey, it could be illegal!

  3. Re:WTF? by ReelOddeeo · · Score: 3, Funny

    This sounds just completely insane.

    Did you mean it sounds like typical SCO behavior? Or am I misunderstanding you?

    --

    Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
  4. Re:Heh by NetNifty · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmm, don't know whats stranger, SCO being right, or IBM admitting to hacking in to SCO's servers.

    --
    Linux Wireless Hardware in the UK
  5. Re:WTF? by cosmo7 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Although the site was anonymous, meaning anyone can LOG IN, the SCO may still have ground to stand on if they displayed a terms of use when you login, and say something like "if you don't agree to these terms, you are not permitted to download and must log out immediately."

    Here is the agreement from SCO's ftp site:

    Welcome to SCO's UnixWarez Site

    All downloads are for BACK-UP only. If you are from a law enforcement agency then you are not allowed to log on. No kiddie pr0n. Upload to download. No leeching. Enjoy.

    ( Agree ) ( Disagree )