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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]

#61

Post by alxndr »

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…

I looked quickly at the reddit comment thread that someone else linked to, and it appears that Lawrence Lessig has responded to a related question:

"would your proposed 'Aaron's law' prevent the situation by which Aaron was refused a plea deal that did not include jail time?" --alexwilhelm

"If "Aaron's Law" had been law, Aaron would not have been charged with a felony, and so there would not have been jail time to refuse." --lessig

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/16njr9/im_rep_zo...

edit: context

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

#62

Post by jforman »

marshray wrote: post #54
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…

Re: his actions in evading filtering and shutoffs on MIT's networks Have you seen any halfway credible summary on what he did? I'll probably read the formal indictment eventually, but I'm not expecting a real balanced presentation. To be clear: just asking if anyone has a good hyperlink. For example, I'd like to know what did he do on the Wifi other than change his MAC address? It's said he "broke into" the wiring cl…

This meets your "halfway credible" standard, although I can't vouch for its ultimate accuracy:

http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-charges/

This blog describes a scenario in which JSTOR blocked Aaron's IP, then MIT blocked his MAC address, then JSTOR blocked an MIT IP range after he kept circumventing their attempts to cut him off. Ultimately, "Swartz broke into a closet in the basement of a building at MIT and connected his computer directly to the network — hiding his computer under a box so no one would see it."

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

#63

Post by jMyles »

Am I the only one who thinks that the current situation requires removing text from the federal register rather than adding it? In both cases, the changes here are insertions, with no deletions. There's plenty of offending code to delete, why let it rot more?

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

#64

Post by AnthonyMouse »

jforman wrote: post #62
marshray wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: his actions in evading filtering and shutoffs on MIT's networks Have you seen any halfway credible summary on what he did? I'll probably read the formal indictment eventually, but I'm not expecting a real balanced presentation. To be clear: just asking if anyone has a good hyperlink. For example, I'd like to know what did he do on the Wifi other than change his MAC address? It's said he "broke into" the wiring cl…

This meets your "halfway credible" standard, although I can't vouch for its ultimate accuracy: http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-charges/ This blog describes a scenario in which JSTOR blocked Aaron's IP, then MIT blocked his MAC address, then JSTOR blocked an MIT IP range after he kept circumventing their attempts to cut him off. Ultimately, "Swartz broke into a closet in the basement of a building at MIT…

It's worth noting that Prof. Kerr stated that he used the indictment as a significant source of the facts in his legal analysis. I would be inclined to trust it a lot less as an account of what actually happened than for the analysis of what the law says given the facts he describes.

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

#65

Post by politician »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #41
politician wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd strike "computing" from your suggestion as well.

Also, "uses electromagnetic radiation to" -- let's not be limited to particular technologies. And maybe strike "intentionally" too, or you'll have lawyers arguing about the intent of a piece of networking equipment.

So, "any device which communicates with any device" then? We might need to add a clarification that communicating with itself is included, and that communication could be uni-, bi-, or multi-directional...

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

#66

Post by gyardley »

anigbrowl wrote: post #56
gyardley wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, the legislation won't go anywhere if you go out of your way to make it seem like a one-party issue. Some of us have been reaching out to our GOP representatives, especially those who've expressed prior concerns about prosecutorial abuse of power. I see Darrell Issa - on the Oversight Committee, and hardly a liberal - has already agreed to look into the appropriateness of Aaron's prosecutors' behavior. It's real…

This legislative proposal is too narrowly tailored to address prosecutorial overreach in general, and I'm not sure it would have even made much difference in this case.

I agree completely - but it's a good step in the right direction. I didn't mention it in the letters I've already written, because I didn't know about it, but I'll certainly be working it into the letters I haven't written yet.

Hopefully you'll do the same.

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

#67

Post by HistoryInAction »

spinlocked wrote: post #23
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…

Lofgren's proposal appears to address the EFFs main concerns: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/aaron-swartz-fix-draco... Legislating against what you term "prosecutorial misconduct" is far fetched. Can you imagine how you would word that legislation without hampering law enforcement efforts against the real bad guys? Do you really want that? Having the law named after Aaron would be more than symbolic, it would…

The problem with prosecutorial discretion is that it allows prosecutors to drift down from the baseline sentencing (see: DACA re: DREAM Act) but also choose not to. In this case, the AUSA clearly decided that maximizing the sentence was the best way to get a plea bargain to increase his metrics of successful prosecutions.

The law is never going to be perfect, and our outcries do more to serve as a perpetual reminder (see: SOPA) against legal overreach than any law will be.

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

#68

Post by dsl »

marshray wrote: post #54
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…

Re: his actions in evading filtering and shutoffs on MIT's networks Have you seen any halfway credible summary on what he did? I'll probably read the formal indictment eventually, but I'm not expecting a real balanced presentation. To be clear: just asking if anyone has a good hyperlink. For example, I'd like to know what did he do on the Wifi other than change his MAC address? It's said he "broke into" the wiring cl…

Burglary (entry for the purposes of committing an offense) is broken down into three sub-categories: forcible entry, unlawful entry where no force is used, and attempted forcible entry. It doesn't matter if you use a tank or a paperclip, or even if you're successful.

You're not the first person to think up the "but it wasn't locked (very well)!" defense. :)

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

#69

Post by ahallock »

jMyles wrote: post #63

Am I the only one who thinks that the current situation requires removing text from the federal register rather than adding it? In both cases, the changes here are insertions, with no deletions. There's plenty of offending code to delete, why let it rot more?

I agree with you, but I don't know how much credit she'd receive for merely trying to eliminate law.

We wouldn't need this massive, inconsistent, vague, and convoluted law system if we just followed a few fundamental moral principles. An analogy would be the overly-complex equations to support the Earth being at the center of the solar system. When the sun was rightfully placed there, the equations became more elegant.

A programming analogy would be to refactor similar laws into a more general form, follow KISS, use open-source software (free market) instead of reinventing the wheel (the type of wheel you'd find in Death Race 2000, btw), etc. But just like the programmer who gets job security from tangled, inscrutable code, Statists and lawyers do so from law.

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

#70

Post by mindslight »

alxndr wrote: post #61
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…

I looked quickly at the reddit comment thread that someone else linked to, and it appears that Lawrence Lessig has responded to a related question: "would your proposed 'Aaron's law' prevent the situation by which Aaron was refused a plea deal that did not include jail time?" --alexwilhelm "If "Aaron's Law" had been law, Aaron would not have been charged with a felony, and so there would not have been jail time to re…

This response lowered my opinion of Lessig. Does he honestly believe this? In addition to the TOS, there were technical restrictions that Aaron evaded as well.
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