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Aaron's Law Would Revamp Computer Fraud Penalties

Posted by timothy on from the malice-would-be-a-good-place-to-start dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Two U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill that would prevent the Department of Justice from prosecuting people for violating terms of service for Web-based products, website notices or employment agreements under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). On Thursday, Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, and Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, introduced Aaron's Law, a bill aimed at removing some types of prosecutions under the CFAA." The bill is of course named for Aaron Swartz.

1 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not good enough. by lgarner · · Score: 0, Troll

    Every use of plea bargaining is an abuse. Everyone has a right to a trial, even those who are most definitely guilty of a crime.

    Everyone already has the right to a trial; plea bargains do not take that right away. Accepting the plea bargain is optional for the defendant and can be particularly appealing for those who are "most definitely guilty."

    so that it could be used as a bargaining chip to get them to comply with providing information about associates.

    By giving people an incentive to lie about their fellow citizens. How is that supposed to be a good thing?

    You're confusing "fellow citizens" with "accomplices" here.

    The overall problem isn't plea bargains, or attempts by law enforcement to get suspects to turn on each other. There's nothing wrong with getting a robbery suspect to turn on his accomplices. The real problem is the silly little offenses that are prosecuted far beyond any semblance of reasonableness. Violating a website's TOS is obviously not the same as a real crime.