It appears the prosecutor has a history of abusing her powers. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5126017.
"Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent," http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229, http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229 The prosecutor has a history of abusing her power. See, for example, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5126017. On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Jeffrey Walton <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Aaron-s-Law-hopes-to-blunt-US-computer-crime-law-1786033.html > > US Representative Zoe Lofgren has proposed an amendment to the > Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Lofgren also presented her amendment on > Reddit. The amendment is called "Aaron's Law" by Lofgren and is being > put forward as a response to the death of Aaron Swartz, the internet > activist who killed himself while facing thirteen felony counts of > computer and wire fraud after he attempted to liberate millions of > academic papers from the JSTOR archive. > > Currently, the CFAA allows prosecutors to define unauthorised access > to computer systems such that even a simple violation of an ISP's or a > web site's terms of service could be used to bring felony charges. > Lofgren's proposal amends the law such that unauthorised access is not > a felony if that access was solely contrary to terms of service or > other contractual arrangements between a user and a service. A simple > modification like this could well have reduced the number of felony > charges that Swartz faced. > > Wire and computer fraud charges are often added in hacking cases where > ISPs' terms of service appear to have been broken, yet the charge can > carry a three to five year prison sentence. Lofgren says using the law > in this way "could criminalize many everyday activities and allow for > outlandishly severe penalties" and she is now seeking cosponsors for > the bill, which she hopes will be enacted quickly and act as a tribute > to Swartz's life. > > Other US law makers have also stepped up to condemn the prosecution; > Representative Jared Polis reportedly said "the charges were > ridiculous and trumped-up," while Representative Darrell Issa said his > oversight panel would look into whether federal prosecutors had acted > inappropriately. Lofgren, Polis and Issa are all members of the House > Judiciary Committee. Issa also said that Congress should take up > Swartz's aims and make more information freely available and make sure > "that what is paid for is as widely available as possible to the > American people". _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
