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Rep. Zoe Lofgren Introduces Aaron's Law [pdf]

lofgren.house.gov

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Re: Rep. Zoe Lofgren Introduces Aaron's Law [pdf]

#3

Post by bhousel »

The important stuff:

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF CERTAIN VIOLATIONS OF AGREEMENTS OR CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS, RELATING TO INTERNET SERVICE, FROM THE PURVIEW OF CERTAIN CRIMINAL PROHIBITIONS. (a) FRAUD AND RELATED ACTIVITY IN CONNECTION WITH COMPUTERS. - Section 1030(e)(6) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘alter;’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘alter, but does not include access in violation of an agreement or contractual obligation, such as an acceptable use policy or terms of service agreement, with an Internet service provider, Internet website, or employer, if such violation constitutes the sole basis for determining that access to a protected computer is unauthorized;’’.

(b) FRAUD BY WIRE, RADIO, OR TELEVISION. - Section 1343 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the first sentence the following: ‘‘A violation of an agreement or contractual obligation regarding Internet or computer use, such as an acceptable use policy or terms of service agreement, with an Internet service provider, Internet website, or employer is not in itself a violation of this section.’’.

It essentially means that violating a TOS will not longer be considered "wire fraud".

The law, currently:

18 U.S.C. § 1030: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/47/1030

Summary: http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/tit...

18 U.S.C. § 1343: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/63/1343

Summary: http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/tit...

Re: Rep. Zoe Lofgren Introduces Aaron's Law [pdf]

#7

Post by tptacek »

Would Aaron's Law have helped Aaron? Both Orin Kerr and Jennifer Granick have said that his actions in evading filtering and shutoffs on MIT's networks would have created a plausible argument for the prosecution that he had been evading specific code-based authorization mechanisms and would have known his access was unauthorized.

If you read Reason, you're immediately suspicious of laws with people's names on them; they're often more about PR than about well-thought-out policy changes.

Granick makes pretty good arguments that it's the sentencing structure of CFAA that creates the largest problems (a low evidentiary standard for establishing damages, not to mention the ridiculousness of criminal sentences that scale with the number of documents you download). But more importantly, prosecutorial misconduct is at the heart of this case. Surely we're going to do something about that, right?

Obviously, I don't think TOS violations should be felonies, for whatever that's worth. Lessig, on Reddit, says it's critically important.

Re: Rep. Zoe Lofgren Introduces Aaron's Law [pdf]

#8

Post by afarrell »

michaelfeathers wrote: post #6

It's a nice narrow fix and I hope it passes, but the real elephant in the room is 'plea bargaining.' That needs reform at the federal level.

Which needs to bring along with it some combination of an increase in the amount of resources the courts have to handle trials, decrease in the number of victimless "crimes", and better ways to reduce recidivism. Otherwise, the system would collapse under the weight of all of the trials and prisoners.

Re: Rep. Zoe Lofgren Introduces Aaron's Law [pdf]

#10

Post by rayiner »

tptacek wrote: post #7

Would Aaron's Law have helped Aaron? Both Orin Kerr and Jennifer Granick have said that his actions in evading filtering and shutoffs on MIT's networks would have created a plausible argument for the prosecution that he had been evading specific code-based authorization mechanisms and would have known his access was unauthorized. If you read Reason, you're immediately suspicious of laws with people's names on them; t…

The depressing lulziness if a sentence that scales with the number of documents downloaded is matched only by that of sentences that scale with the weight of the drugs carried.
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