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Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

petitions.whitehouse.gov

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Re: Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

#11

Post by SkyMarshal »

rprasad wrote: post #9

This petition is guranteed to fail. The domain of writing, passing, and modifying laws is the domain of Congress , not the President. You can pester the President all you want, but it is not within his Constitutional powers to do anything about the law. (Indeed, even announcing that the DOJ should not enforce the law is a potentially impeachable offense depending on the political environment.) If you want the CFAA re…

It's a useful vehicle for starting the process, bringing attention to the issue, clearly explaining what and why, providing a single point of action for people to focus on, and gauging support.

If all that goes well and the petition gets enough signatures and visibility, then that's a good point to segue off into the more difficult organizational problem of getting all those people to actually call their rep.

Additionally, the President has to sign such a law eventually anyway, so starting movements with a plea to the President has some benefit in that regard as well.

Re: Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

#12

Post by jmediast »

wbhart wrote: post #4

I think the danger with encouraging lawmakers ignorant of how computers work to make more laws is that they will not actually improve things.

I'm not sure I'd worry about that... if the proposed laws were worse, then I think you'd see another SOPA/PIPA style reaction.

And then you have to consider the chances that a response from the administration will actually start an investigation / reformation.

For better or worse though, I guess I'm willing to see where it goes.

Re: Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

#13

Post by ScottWhigham »

rprasad wrote: post #9

This petition is guranteed to fail. The domain of writing, passing, and modifying laws is the domain of Congress , not the President. You can pester the President all you want, but it is not within his Constitutional powers to do anything about the law. (Indeed, even announcing that the DOJ should not enforce the law is a potentially impeachable offense depending on the political environment.) If you want the CFAA re…

I love how this is being downvoted not by people who are upset at the inaccuracy of what you posted but rather out of either ignorance of how our country's government is designed to work, or those who are angry for some reason and take it out on your poor, little downvote arrow. What you've said is 100% true and starting/signing a petition such is this is the very epitome of slactivism. As @nhebb here said recently, " Slacktivism is like leveling up in a video game. It gives you the sense of accomplishment, even though you haven't done jack shit in real life."

Re: Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

#14

Post by temphn »

rprasad wrote: post #9

This petition is guranteed to fail. The domain of writing, passing, and modifying laws is the domain of Congress , not the President. You can pester the President all you want, but it is not within his Constitutional powers to do anything about the law. (Indeed, even announcing that the DOJ should not enforce the law is a potentially impeachable offense depending on the political environment.) If you want the CFAA re…

How is it that every single post you make has some inaccuracy?

Right now, Obama is considering executive orders to change gun laws. If he wanted to issue an executive order about the CFAA, or instruct DOJ not to enforce it, or push Congress to do something, he sure could move the needle.

The petition is all about bringing attention to the matter.

EDIT: See? Every comment you make is so clearly wrong (no one outside HN cares, federal prosecutors have no discretion, seeing Ortiz disciplined would be a "fantasy") that it is falsified in realtime.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/zoe-lofgren-aarons-...

  WASHINGTON -- Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) took to the 
  online forum Aaron Swartz helped found on Tuesday night to 
  propose legislation honoring the late Internet activist.

  "I'm Rep. Zoe Lofgren & I'm introducing 'Aaron's Law' to 
  change the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act," Lofgren wrote in 
  a Reddit post. Swartz, 26, committed suicide on Friday.

Re: Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

#15

Post by rprasad »

temphn wrote: post #14
rprasad wrote: post #9

This petition is guranteed to fail. The domain of writing, passing, and modifying laws is the domain of Congress , not the President. You can pester the President all you want, but it is not within his Constitutional powers to do anything about the law. (Indeed, even announcing that the DOJ should not enforce the law is a potentially impeachable offense depending on the political environment.) If you want the CFAA re…

How is it that every single post you make has some inaccuracy? Right now, Obama is considering executive orders to change gun laws. If he wanted to issue an executive order about the CFAA, or instruct DOJ not to enforce it, or push Congress to do something, he sure could move the needle. The petition is all about bringing attention to the matter. EDIT: See? Every comment you make is so clearly wrong (no one outside H…

In your words, he can "move the needle" and...that's it. He can't eliminate the law, he can't change the law, and he if he were to order the DOJ to stop enforcing the law, the Republican-dominated House could impeach him (because the impeachment is a political process).

As for the other comments...I stand by them. My reasons are laid out in those comments and others on the same threads and if you choose to cherry-pick phrases from select comments instead of reading them together then there is nothing I can do to stop you.

Re: Petition to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

#16

Post by rprasad »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #11
rprasad wrote: post #9

This petition is guranteed to fail. The domain of writing, passing, and modifying laws is the domain of Congress , not the President. You can pester the President all you want, but it is not within his Constitutional powers to do anything about the law. (Indeed, even announcing that the DOJ should not enforce the law is a potentially impeachable offense depending on the political environment.) If you want the CFAA re…

It's a useful vehicle for starting the process, bringing attention to the issue, clearly explaining what and why, providing a single point of action for people to focus on, and gauging support. If all that goes well and the petition gets enough signatures and visibility, then that's a good point to segue off into the more difficult organizational problem of getting all those people to actually call their rep. Additio…

It's a useful vehicle for starting the process, bringing attention to the issue, clearly explaining what and why, providing a single point of action for people to focus on, and gauging support.

What would be more useful is actually contacting your Congressperson and telling them. If you want you can simply read the petition. But signing this petition won't accomplish anything.

If all that goes well and the petition gets enough signatures and visibility, then that's a good point to segue off into the more difficult organizational problem of getting all those people to actually call their rep.

Why do you need to organize getting people to call? Just call them. Once you've called them, ask or convince (gently) two other people to call. Critical mass to get the ball rolling is usually about two dozen calls on the same issue (simply because so few people actually bother to use the phone for this anymore).

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