RSS
Congress Debating If Putting A Fake Name On Facebook Should Be A Felony
from the how-to-turn-the-whole-world-into-felons dept
On Wednesday, George Washington Law professor and former federal prosecutor Orin Kerr authored an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, posing the question "Should faking a name on Facebook be a felony?" He was, of course, talking about the infamous Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which Congress is preparing to update. The CFAA, as has been noted here many times, is a federal law passed in the '80s and initially designed to combat malicious computer hacking, but which has become bloated, stretched and over-applied in the years since.
At the root of many of the arguably overreaching applications of the CFAA is the prohibition on conduct which "exceeds authorized access" to a computer system. According to Kerr:
Would you believe that some politicians are even thinking of making the bill even worse?
Professor Kerr's primary concern expressed in the op-ed was that the CFAA was going to be amended to make any violation of the CFAA a felony. Hopefully, this won't pan out. The original Administration proposal (pdf) did increase the baseline punishment for any violation of the CFAA (including exceeding authorized access) from a misdemeanor level offense (less than one year) to a felony. But, thankfully, the Judiciary Committee didn't take the Administration's suggestion. Lets hope it stays that way as this bill makes its epic journey through the Washington legislative sausage maker.
There is yet a glimmer of rational-thought hope. Senators Grassley and Franken have introduced an amendment (pdf) which would modify the definition of "exceeds authorized access" to exclude violations of a TOS, if that's the only basis for the charge of violating the CFAA, effectively improving the CFAA instead of making it worse. Fingers crossed that the amendment makes it in.
At the root of many of the arguably overreaching applications of the CFAA is the prohibition on conduct which "exceeds authorized access" to a computer system. According to Kerr:
The problem is that a lot of routine computer use can exceed "authorized access." Courts are still struggling to interpret this language. But the Justice Department believes that it applies incredibly broadly to include "terms of use" violations and breaches of workplace computer-use policies.And Professor Kerr should know, he was the attorney who defended Lori Drew when she was charged with a felony for making a fake MySpace profile. The Justice Department's position that a violation of a terms of service constitutes a federal crime basically makes the Federal government the enforcer of private contracts. Got an employee spending too much time on Facebook? Turn them in to the Feds. Someone posting comments you just don't like on your blog? Call the DOJ. Or threaten to. The chilling effect alone should be enough to keep your users in line.
Breaching an agreement or ignoring your boss might be bad. But should it be a federal crime just because it involves a computer? If interpreted this way, the law gives computer owners the power to criminalize any computer use they don't like.
Would you believe that some politicians are even thinking of making the bill even worse?
Professor Kerr's primary concern expressed in the op-ed was that the CFAA was going to be amended to make any violation of the CFAA a felony. Hopefully, this won't pan out. The original Administration proposal (pdf) did increase the baseline punishment for any violation of the CFAA (including exceeding authorized access) from a misdemeanor level offense (less than one year) to a felony. But, thankfully, the Judiciary Committee didn't take the Administration's suggestion. Lets hope it stays that way as this bill makes its epic journey through the Washington legislative sausage maker.
There is yet a glimmer of rational-thought hope. Senators Grassley and Franken have introduced an amendment (pdf) which would modify the definition of "exceeds authorized access" to exclude violations of a TOS, if that's the only basis for the charge of violating the CFAA, effectively improving the CFAA instead of making it worse. Fingers crossed that the amendment makes it in.
I have an app...
How My First Game Made $28,623
Developer Census: Be Counted. It takes less than two minutes.
I have a business...
The Future Of Commerce Will Combine Your Social Network And Mobile Device
Why 50,000 Monthly Active Users Weren't Enough To Stop This Company From Pivoting, With Spun Co-Founder Scott Lindenbaum
I have an idea...
From Noodles And Hot Sauce To Funding In 9 Weeks, With Oomf Founder Mikael Cho
Finding Co-Founders in a Recovering Economy
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
Here's an answer:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
ower Congress's approval rating to 5% from ..
Hey Congress, let's get on with something important to the voters, not the lobbyists.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Here's an answer:
i srsly cant think of one argument for this
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Lower Congress's approval rating to 5% from ..
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
FeloniesBook
All of these felonies should carry a harsher penalty than putting a false name on FB.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Well . . .
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: FeloniesBook
That whole "Gotcha, bitch!" nature of licensing has always struck me as being...you know...fucking stupid.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Lower Congress's approval rating to 5% from ..
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: FeloniesBook
Its always seemed pretty unjustifiable to have terms on the inside of a product that you can't return once you've opened it. Either put them on the outside, or let the customer return it if they don't like the terms, at least SOMETHING.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
What about there publicist/spokesperson that actually maintains there social media accounts can they go to jail for impersonation.
Who has standing to press charges an overzealous district attorney or whom?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Uh-oh
Our government is out of control. We need to hit the reset (commence fire) button.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Well at least we know how to take over the government...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Brady, can you tell us when this is due to go to committee, or when we can here congress "debating" this bill?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Just think we could fill the prison with all these real world friendless facebook users and they can engage in some real social networking behind bars. Jails would become some of the friendliest and safest places around!
Also think now the politicians facebook pages will have to be run by the politicians themselves rather than handed over to office staff.
I see this as a win-win. BTW: can I legally change my name to Anonymous Coward now?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Lower Congress's approval rating to 5% from ..
Governments are powered by hookers and blow. If you do anything to try and cut that off you're impeding the work of the sociopaths that we elect to public office. People go into politics for the same reason they want to become rockstars, namely: alcohol/drugs, fame and fortune, and banging underage groupies. If they don't have those aspirations to strive for, we're stuck with regular people in office who don't look out for the corporate bottom-line, and without those assurances the job creators will pack up and move the jobs to a more hooker and blow friendly country.
Note: I feel no need to include a sarcasm tag and meant no disrespect at all to Lobo. In fact, I live in the only state that actually allows hookers, we don't have much blow but I hear we have a lot of meth.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Awesome counter-suit
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Lower Congress's approval rating to 5% from ..
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Awesome counter-suit
Wont' Sony please think of the child criminals they're making?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
DA
Please, for the sake of humanity, vote these people out at your next opportunity!
Obama, 2012 - NO!
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: FeloniesBook
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
When everything's crime...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Well at least we know how to take over the government...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Lower Congress's approval rating to 5% from ..
Give him a minute.
Some of us caught on by the end of the first sentence. Your humor is safe with us. :)
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
False Personas
Oh... you didn't mean THOSE kinds of deliberately-false identities? Ok, carry on.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: FeloniesBook
How about we use voice stress detection on officials and get rid of the stupid and corrupt ones so that we don't end up living perpetual lies that we have to keep hidden from the people by force feeding them bullshit (which for doing the officials get rewarded with cash, benefits, jobs, security, etc.) so the people don't go ape shit when they realize that it is the same mother fuckers that bend them over day after week after month after year and never bend over themselves all in the name of bringing "order" and "security."
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
WTF
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Here's an answer:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Here's an answer:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
f/b alias's ? R Ya'll Crazy ? Oh Plz...Get Real !
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
What happens when violent husbands track down their ex-wifes and kill them because of this police?
South Korea has just abandoned that approach it was not working.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
"Congress Debating If Putting A Fake Name On Facebook Should Be A Felony"
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Hmm...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Make what a federal crime?
How about banning stupid legislation from stupid people in the Congress? Would that work?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Congress Debating If Putting A Fake Name On Facebook Should Be A Felony
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Add Your Comment