Computer Fraud Legislation: You are a Criminal

In 1984 the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was passed, supposedly to stop hacking of systems owned by the government and banks.  Fast forward to today and the bill has had 7 amendments and is considered by most lawyers and legal experts as far beyond the scope of what any law should be and is described as “expansive..sweeping”.

One of the central parts of the law is the ‘ban’ on ‘unauthorized access’ to a computer or computer network/system, although there is no real definition of what entails ‘unauthorized access’.  This law was the one used to prosecute activist Aaron Swartz and eventually led to his committing suicide before trial (The law is so expansive that Aaron was facing more time in prison than someone who helps Al-Qaeda get a nuclear bomb all for downloading academic papers from MIT to publish for all to read).

CFAA 2013

There is a new draft of the bill coming up in mid April and is expected to be RUSHED through Congress before any outrage can boil up in the public.  While there have been calls to limit the scope of this bill in the wake of Aaron Swartz’s death, once the true realities of the scope of this legislation was finally unveiled after all these years, the new CFAA does nothing in this regard.  Not only does it NOT reign in the DOJ, it actually EXPANDS the powers of the CFAA.  Crazy how that works right?

The new Bill will

• Expand the ways a person can be prosecuted by allowing prosecution of those who “conspire to commit” the same as if they actually did commit the crime.
• Makes Computer Crimes a form of Racketeering activity, which means you could fall afoul of RICO.  Making even a couple small crimes, could land you in federal prison for a long time because of a law that was “meant” to take down MAFIA BOSSES!  However Rico is actually rarely ever used against organized crime, but thats a different story….The fact that this is brought it is why RICO was troubling in the first place.  This allows the government to not only charge you with the offenses you committed but further ones under RICO letting you spend even longer terms in prison for what often are relatively minor offenses.
• Stiffer maximum sentences (which i already mentioned, Aaron Swartz was facing a longer sentence than if someone had given Al-Qaeda a active nuclear bomb….insanity…)
• The most troubling aspect of the expanded CFAA law is that the bill expands the law to include “accessing information for an impermissible purpose.”  Which means that its not a matter of whether you did something that was illegal or not, but whether someone deems that what you were using for wasnt permitted, a gateway to a HUGE grey area of interpretation.  Does this mean if i download a free pdf on making a barn, but then use it to house chickens that aren’t allowed in my county i can be charged with CFAA?  With the way it is written, yes.

This law is written in a way that would make it a FELONY  A FELONY to lie about your age in a online dating profile “if you intend to contact someone online and ask them personal questions” or if you violate the terms of service on a government website.  If you say you are 27 and you are 29 and you talk to someone…or INTEND (the key word as ‘intend’ is up to interpretation…yay…) to talk to someone…BOOM felony for you….If you go onto a government website and say you…actually ill do some research into ONE governments Terms of Service….

US POSTAL SERVICE

The U.S. Postal Service has this in their Terms of Service which you “agree” to by just going to their site and being on it…

Users may view and download material from this site only for the following purposes: (a) for personal, non-commercial home use; (b) where the materials clearly state that these materials may be copied and reproduced according to the terms stated in those particular pages; or (c) with the express written permission of the Postal Service. In all other cases, you will need written permission from the Postal Service to reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute or publicly display material from this Web site. Users agree not to use the site for sale, trade or other commercial purposes. Users may not use language that is threatening, abusive, vulgar, discourteous or criminal. Users also may not post or transmit information or materials that would violate rights of any third party or which contains a virus or other harmful component. The Postal Service reserves the right to remove or edit any messages or material submitted by users.

So if you go onto the U.S. Postal Service Website and say…go to Customer Service and go through the FAQ questions and still are not satisfied, you get the part where you can send a typed question/comment to the USPS.  Say a carrier had been a jerk and threw your mail on the ground below your mailbox and you were heated and you type a angry comment to the USPS about this incident and say call the Postal service in general “A bunch of assholes”… YOU HAVE NOW VIOLATED THE TERMS OF SERVICE ON A GOVERNMENT WEBSITE.

Which now makes you a criminal in the eyes of the “Law” and subject to federal criminal charges….Brave new world right?