Slashdot Mirror
Aaron's Law Is Doomed and the CFAA Is Still Broken
I Ate A Candle (3762149) writes Aaron's Law, named after the late internet activist Aaron Swartz, was supposed to fix U.S. hacking laws, which many deem dated and overly harsh. But the bill looks certain to wither in Congress, thanks to corporate lobbying, disagreements in Washington between key lawmakers and a simple lack of interest amongst the general population for changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Representative Zoe Lofgren blamed inactivity from the House Judiciary Committee headed up by Representative Bob Goodlatte, which has chosen not to discuss or vote on Aaron's Law. There is still an appetite for CFAA reform, thanks to complaints from the security community that their research efforts have been deemed illegal acts, perversely making the internet a less secure place. But with the likes of Oracle trying to stop it and with Congress unwilling to act, change looks some way away.
What did you expect from an oligarchy?
The fascists are never going to give up power now that they have it.
And, at this point, it is fairly obvious that both parties are more than willing to vote in favor of fascism.
This is all about government control and secrecy, and if anybody is going to hack into anything with permission it's the NSA et al.
Pathetic, in my lifetime, America has become a joke -- face it, you suck, your government sucks, and you've turned your backs on rights and freedoms.
America deserves what it gets at this point, and deserves a massive amount of contempt and distrust from the rest of the world.
You have become the fucking problem.
More and more IT security companies and conferences are moving abroad to evade insane politicians.
Remember when Black Hat Las Vegas was the ITSEC Mecca? People started praying in a different direction a while ago.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
http://goodlatte.house.gov/contacts/new
Obviously your message will carry more weight if you actually live in the 6th District of Virginia, or you're a contributor to Bob's campaign, or if you convincingly argue that passing Aaron's law will somehow be good for Israel.
Apparently Oracle has sunk $1.36 mil into lobbying against this because they are using the CFAA to "protect trade secrets." Presumably they're holding the threat of ridiculous prison sentences over their employees' heads to keep them from leaking any of Oracle's precious bodily fluids, but someone must have some idea of what it is that Oracle is trying to hide, even if you all don't know the particulars. Spill.
Is it some special sauce for tricking state governments into contracting with Oracle when they could be working with a different, competent company? Or into buying ten times as many licenses as they actually need? Doubtless there's some reason why Oracle is as rich as it is...
CFAA may be broken but what Aaron did was still wrong and I don't think the law should be changed to make his behavior legal, which is the impression I get when the bill is named after him. I'm sure many others feel the same way. Sure, Swartz will be missed and many people are blaming themselves for not recognizing the signs of mental illness and helping him before he killed himself. However, I'd do the same thing MIT did if I discovered some creep walking in off the street and causing all the researchers to lose access to a major database, kept evading blocks over a period of months, and broke into a wiring closet to hook up his own equipment. Likewise, if some creep was trying to "keepgrabbing" my entire database, creating more traffic than all of my other customers combined, and jeopardizing my relationship with one of my biggest customers, you bet your ass I'd call the cops. Somehow, however, Swartz apologists keep trying to hitch this wagon up to the "I didn't read a web sites ToS and now I have a felony conviction" cause.
When your lawmakers are low IQ low education level types that put more weight in the opinions of the lobbyists that stuff their pockets full of money... You will NEVER get fair and balanced laws.
DMCA and PATRIOT are two prime examples of how the people on capitol hill work. most of those idiots do not even READ the laws they are voting on.
The proper answer still remains, if you want to be a white hat, you MUST remain anonymous when you release any information. DO NOT ever let someone know who you are because good deed will be punished harshly by the scared and uneducated lawmakers.
And the laws are only going toget worse as big business buy even more legislation to shore up out of date business practices.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You can't blame the Republicans for the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, chaired by Sen. Leahy (D-VT). Its a senate bill too.
Lets say someone had little security, akin to not locking the door, and someone gets into the system and seals data. That is the same as if someone just walked in and made photocopies of all the data and left the building.
If they needed to break in, where the computers are in a more compromised state then it is breaking and entering.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
... and Oracle was afraid they would do something. They wasted their money.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
Aaron Scwartz deliberately installed his own equipment, deliberately hidden under a cardboard box, in a place he had no right to be in.
The fact he had a JSTOR account is irrelevant. He put his equipment on someone else's network in an attempt to bypass the normal JSTOR requirements.
Stop making him out to be a hero. If you think what he did was fine, I'll be sure to do the same thing to the company you work for.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Apparently the young man committed suicide due to the threat of severe charges and punishments. The real challenge is the way the legal system works. The common tactic is to charge a defendant with a stack of really off the wall charges and force a plea bargain for much more accurate charges. A person who really would face a year or two in prison is faced with a prosecutor threatening 60 years or more. Many personalities will fold and make a deal. Addicts are particularly vulnerable as they have urgent desires to get out and get loaded as soon as possible. There is also a public display element in that convictions and sentences make great newspaper fodder but inmates appeal and bargains are struck to avoid a retrial in many cases. Think about it. A bad person breaks into a home with people sleeping at night. The charge could be burglary which usually gets one probation for the first offense. Or the exact same crime can be called home invasion and the person may be in prison for 75 years. The prosecutor says plead to burglary and we won't charge you with home invasion. The bad actor doesn't want to die in prison so even if innocent will tend to plead guilty. So the only real cure is to require all charges to be filed before anyone interviews the bad actor. Then disallow any changing of the charges. Or we could dump the entire idea of allowing plea bargains.
He's a weak loser who the internet has a giant hard-on for because he was young and charismatic and stole some IP from the ***EVIL CORPORATIONS***. To the rest of us, he's just some putz who committed suicide when he found out that stealing actually has --GASP-- consequences.
Associating the act with Aaron Swartz such as calling it Aaron's Law is a huge mistake because any congressman that votes for it will have to consider how his opponents would use that against him in the next election. Keep in mind that the people who fund election campaigns are the kind that would look upon Aaron as a simple thief and menace.
The CFAA certainly needs to be fixed, but a better way would be to not mention Aaron Swartz and rather call it something like "CFAA Modernization Act"
No conspiracy required. A bill that very few people know about and far fewer would actually have affect their vote pattern or donations has very little chance of going anywhere. Every bill is an opportunity for riders and house-senate conference shenanigans, so I am pretty sure things are working correctly when this goes nowhere.
The law would not pass anyway, reguardless of the bill's content. I believe the there is enough of the group that says "No" that bills just don't get beyond the house.
Movie and game idea, "The Purge, Welcom to the Koch Bro's Compound."
There are a thousand laws where "lack of interest amongst the general population" was no obstacle to getting them passed.
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Anytime there is a bill with a nice sounding name, you can bet it's not in the interest of the American people.
Aaron's parrents should sue the government for misrepresenting the name of his sone. The name tricks people into thinking it is something he supported, but that could not be further from the truth.
You can't pass laws like that without having the person you are running against Say you want to let felons get off the hook.
Oracle, one more company I will not do business with.
You'll notice that he locked the door and checked the handle before starting (in order to make sure that he wasn't disturbed):
http://www.wired.com/2013/12/swartz-video/
I agree that breaking the terms of service should not be a crime. However, the above video shows what is (and should be) a crime.
All I ask is that, if you argue for Aaron Swartz, you state why the above video shows a perfectly reasonable (and legal) act.
The fascists are never going to give up power now that they have it.
Pathetic.
Translating geek speak into English:
" I don't know how to communicate effectively with voters and make my issues and my candidates a driving force in any political campaign.
When I lose I'll take refuge in Godwinism and talk of bribery, further alienating the voters whose advise and support I need the most."
US elections are rigged. But Canada knows how to fix them.
"When Americans voted for the House of Representatives in 2012, Democratic candidates won 1.4 million more votes than Republicans. Yet after the dust settled, the GOP ended up with a 234-201 majority in the chamber. And several recently-gerrymandered states had particularly odd results — for instance, in Pennsylvania, Republicans won 49 percent of the votes, but 69 percent of the seats."
Now they can't even agree to vote on MY LAW - Aaron's Law - after I killed myself!
Please, will somebody help me! I wish so bad I could kill myself all over again!
- ghost of AS
Call your Rep if they're on the Judiciary Committee. Google the committee to find out who's on it. My Rep's staffer was unfamiliar with the bill. At least bring it to their attention. I've usually sent email. It hasn't gotten the attention that a voice phone call has. Be polite and firm and be ready to explain what the bill is.
We need to stop making a martyr out of Swartz. The dude hung himself practicing autoerotic asphyxia.