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Violating a Website's Terms of Service Is Not a Crime, Federal Court Rules (eff.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Good news out of the Ninth Circuit: the federal court of appeals heeded EFF's advice and rejected an attempt by Oracle to hold a company criminally liable for accessing Oracle's website in a manner it didn't like. The court ruled back in 2012 that merely violating a website's terms of use is not a crime under the federal computer crime statute, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. But some companies, like Oracle, turned to state computer crime statutes -- in this case, California and Nevada -- to enforce their computer use preferences. This decision shores up the good precedent from 2012 and makes clear -- if it wasn't clear already -- that violating a corporate computer use policy is not a crime.
What do my fellow yanks think of this ad?
https://youtu.be/EKWq5xsZnTE
Only IBM could suck more.
Use third world developers, get third world products.
This was so fucking obvious even Clarence Thomas could stay awake long enough to get it right.
I think I might put "I do not accept the terms of your user agreement" somewhere in the User Agent String of my browser, see what happens.
Nullius in verba
When creimer was still posting and annoying the shit out of everyone, I signed up cdreimer just to poke some fun at his puffed-up ego. Talking about his IT certs and his author copyrights and author blogs and god knows what else and the big dummy didn't even consider to sign up cdreimer as well!
I thought this was too funny.
Then crymore, I mean creimer, complained to Slashdot management, invoking the DMCA. Yes, those 75 videos with 3 views each are going to be hurt so much by having a cdreimer mockery account.
Since no crime was committed by signing up cdreimer, I want that account back, and let creimer post under creimer again.
The big nerd is known as creimer anyways!
First, this is a civil case rather than a criminal one. Laws like the CFAA and the equivalent state laws allow for criminal and civil action. More importantly, the ruling is a narrow one, focused on the specific aspects of this case. The court ruled that Oracle made the data available for downloading from their website. Oracle's objection was the use of automated tools to download the data. The court agreed that Remini violated the terms of service in how they downloaded the data. However, because Remini was authorized to access and download the data, the court ruled that it did not violated the law. It is entirely possible that someone violations of the terms of service might also violate the law. The ruling is logical, but the scope is also narrower than is indicated by the summary.
To classify cases as "not an instance of X, as alleged by plaintiffs, but perhaps it could be Y".
The court ruled the case in question was not a "computer crime", but it probably was a circumstance where the defendants could be held liable for civil damages for violating their employment contract by shipping confidential customer information to a competitor for financial advantage. The same case could be brought even if the customer database was stored on hardcopy in file cabinets, as it probably would have been done 50 years ago.
Once you’ve used Oracle they got you. If you try to leave, you can’t. If you stay, they’ll screw you more and more everyday. Best thing is not never start using Oracle.
It'll go to the SUPREME COURT who will UPHOLD ORACLE because they FAVOR REPUBLICANS without QUESTION -- EVERY SINGLE TIME. NO EXCEPTION.
No, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a criminal act, and rejecting the notion that violating a website EULA is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is to say it's not a crime.
So headline is spot on: "Violating a Website's Terms of Service Is Not a Crime, Federal Court Rules"
" It is entirely possible that someone violations of the terms of service might also violate the law."
If they violated the law, violating the EULA or not is irrelevant. It comes down to "do you have the right to access the website" yes/no. Not "are you accessing it within the terms of the EULA".
So yeh, hacking into a private website might be a crime, and it might also violate or not the EULA, but the EULA doesn't define the crime, the law does.
Hell ya! Fuck you Slashdot Media. I no longer grant you the permission to display my logo, trademarks and company name on your sites nor in press and other public releases or filings. Take that!
Contracts are weird things.
Agreements very often made with intentionally confusing terms, which are simultaneously:
1) Virtually always signed without actually reading in their full meaning, but rather verbally summarized by a biased beneficiary of the contract - and usually not even that. Indeed, the very idea of reading a contract is almost a faux pas, and is only tolerated with a raised eyebrow.
2) Somehow also considered an almost sacred agreement that must be upheld at great cost - often more important than most forms of important morality or personal needs. Breaking a contract is a completely valid reason to shun a person, or do things to them that would be considered ruining their life.
Indeed - much of the law is considered to be a loose substitute for contract logic, rather than the other way around.
To me, as a programmer, this entire set of logic is absurd. And I've worked extensively with lawyers, and other notable rule-keeping organizations - the way people allow contracts to act as if they were a genie's wish, when they are such sloppy, crude documents, masked behind vague catch-all phrases, in virtually all cases just gives me pause whenever I look into them.
Contracts are a very poor way of reaching an agreement, though I can see how they're the best folks know how to use in general.
The odd thing is how folks tend to be cynical about statistics and accounting - but then accept contracts as if they were a real assurance that someone is willing to truly work with them.
It's also what bothers be about libertarian idealism - the thought of governance as a system replaced with a hyper-religious use of contracts. Like economics, contracts only mean what they say, as long as the system can't be stretched by a group to hold values that said group wants to force them to hold after the fact.
The value of contracts flows, the same as currencies - the same as relationships.
It seems two things are at play here: the fact that a EULA cannot limit the publicly or contractually available Information.
The other thing reading further into the case is the fact that Oracle seems to argue that it's copyright does not permit any third parties to obtain any part of the closed source system and the courts agreed with that. The court also holds that any modifications to closed source software are illegal unless you hold an explicit license.
So let's say you are a company and want maintenance work done on your Oracle system, the third party cannot download copies of eg software updates for you because the license does not include that third party.
This should be a big warning for anyone using Windows and other closed source software, the software license does not extend to anyone else therefore even just downloading the patches could get you into copyright infringement.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
If its a Public available site as anyone can load up the site and see then it should be same as walking down side walk and looking in to a store window. If oracle wants they could ban and block the companies bot from accessing their site, they would be allowed to do that but it would be like a store saying you can walk on public side walk OUTSIDE their store least that is what Oracle is trying to make case on.
Sure they can rule that it is not a criminal case against the computer fraud and abuse act. However a EULA is still technically a contract. They could still come after you in civil court for damages due to breech of contract.
...will be relived that they're starting to reign in that act. Somebody go back in time and call off the suicide - he would have only had to spend a few years, not what he was sentenced.
Assuming a user grants permission to access his profile
"And private companies shouldn’t be using criminal laws meant to target malicious actors as tool to..."
The EFF can surely afford a proofreader to add the word "a" to make it "as a tool".
And don't start a sentence with the word And.
And that's how we stop illiteracy.
EFF, I love your 4th amendment packing tape that you no longer sell.
But damn.
And stop sucking.
E
... would you still be arguing if something stipulated by a private party supersedes the law.
I have no other way to describe it when a company thinks that any TOS or EULA it has written is law.
There is a process true laws must go through before becoming valid. They might want to refamiliarize themselves with that concept.
Hell, they can just go watch the episode of School House Rock for the simple version.
Sings: I'm just a bill. . .
I'm really happy this nonsense was reported. I just inherited a team that uses an Oracle product, which I plan to dump in favor of something open source. The loss for Oracle will be a rounding error but I hope others do the same and run this garbage company out of business.
Here is the story of creimy the mountain!
Listen to the audio version here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"Creimy The Mountain"
includes quotes from Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major (Edward Elgar), Johnny's Theme (Paul Anka), Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder (Crawford), O Mein Papa (Paul Burkhard), Over The Rainbow (Harburg/Arlen), Star-Spangled Banner (Smith/Key), Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills)
One, two, three
CREIMY the Mountain
CREIMY the Mountain
A regular picturesque
Postcardy mountain
Residing between lovely
Rosamond and Gorman
With his stunning wife ETHELL, A tree! A tree!
CREIMY was a mountain ETHELL was a tree Growing off of his shoulder
CREIMY was a mountain
(CREIMY was a mountain!)
ETHELL was a tree Growing off of his shoulder
(ETHELL was a tree growing off of his shoulder)
(hey, hey hey!)
Creimy had two big
Caves for eyes,
With a cliff for a jaw
That would go up 'n down,
And whenever it did,
He'd puff out some dust,
And hack up a boulder (HACK!) Hack up a boulder (HACK! HACK!)
Hack up a boulder (HACK! HACK! HACK!) Up a boulder
Now, one day, now I believe it was on a Tuesday, a man in a checkered double-knit suit drove up in a large El Dorado Cadillac, leased from BOB SPREEN
("Where the freeways meet in Downey!")
And he laid a HUGE, BULGING ENVELOPE right at the corner of CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN, that was right where his 'foot' was supposed to be.
Now, CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN, he couldn't believe it! All those postcards he'd posed for, for ALL OF THOSE YEARS, and finally, now, AT LAST, his Royalties!
Royalties! Royalties Royalties! Royalty check is in, honey!
Yes, CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN was RICH! Yes, and his eyeball-caves, they widened in amazement, and his jaw (which was a cliff), well it dropped thirty feet!
A bunch of dust puffed out! Rocks and boulders hacked up, (hack! hack!) crushing 'The LINCOLN'!
I gave him the money He acted real funny He hocked up a rock and It TOTALLED my car!
Oh, do you Know any trucks Might be bound for THE VALLEY?
I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar (Dear Lord)
I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar (No shit!)
I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar!
By two o'clock, when the bars are already closed down, CREIMY had broken 'THE BIG NEWS' to ETHELL. And with dust and boulders everywhere, CREIMY, choked with excitement, announced
"ETHELL, we're going on a VACATION!"
Yes, and they WERE going on a vacation! (Oh, and ETHELL, ETHELL, ETHELL, like every little woman, she of course was very excited! She creaked a little bit, and some old birds flew off of her.) CREIMY told ETHELL they were going to Yes! They were going to NEW YORK!
"ETHELL, we're going to New York!"
But first they were gonna stop in LAS VEGAS
It's off to LAS VEGAS to check out the lounges Pull a few handles,
And drink a few beers, (Oh, ETHELL!)
ETHELL, my darling, you know that I love you!
I'm glad we could have a Vacation this year! (Oh, NEET-O!)
Glad we could have a Vacation this year!
They left that night, crunchin' across the Mojave Desert their voices echoing through the canyons of your minds (POO-AAH!)
"ETHELL, wanna get a cuppa cawfee?"
(Howard Johnson's! Howard Johnson's!
Howard Johnson's! Howard Johnson's!)
"Ahhh! there's a HOWARD JOHNSONS! Wanna eat some CLAMS?"
The first noteworhty piece of real estate they destroyed was EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE
And TO THIS VERY DAY, 'Wing Nuts' and Data Reduction Clerks alike, speak in reverent whispers about that fateful night when TEST STAND #1 and THE ROCKET SLED ITSELF (We have ignition!) got LUNCHED! I said LUNCHED! (Lunched!) By a FAMOUS MOUNTAIN-IN and his SMALL, WOODEN WIFE.
"Word just in to the KTTV News Service undeniably links THIS MOUNTAIN and HIS WIFE to drug abuse and pay-offs as part
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Hahaha +1 hilarious!
I was actually there at that concert!
You forgot to mention creimy's royalties in the title! He is so concentrated on his royalties...
Thanks for that, ROFL! you made my day!