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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.

3 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Speaking of Politics by ub3r+n3u7r4l1st · · Score: -1, Troll

    Some schmuck here /. a while ago suggest that Aaron Swartz does not fit to be running for public office. In other words, he/she is endorsing the current batch of mofos that are occupying the capitol hill and the white house.

    No wonder why America is failing when the leftist has hijacked the government.

    --
    New Economic Perspectives
  2. 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.

  3. Obama is learning from China by ub3r+n3u7r4l1st · · Score: -1, Troll

    and he was able to copy their form of government quite nicely too, in terms of suppressing political oppositions.

    The U.S. still needs to catch up on the number of death penalties however.

    --
    New Economic Perspectives