Legislatures in Washington are being offered a proposal that could cause major changes to the federal computer law used to prosecute Aaron Swartz and other so-called hacktivists.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) introduced Thursday the latest version of “Aaron’s Law,” a proposal the congresswoman started putting together earlier this year in an attempt to bring reform to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986.
Lofgren announced on the website Reddit in January that she was aiming to make changes to the CFAA in honor of Swartz, who committed suicide just days earlier while awaiting trial for a computer hacking case that could have ended with a sentence of several decades if he was found guilty. Swartz, who helped program Reddit and a number of other projects, was charged by federal prosecutors with accessing thousands of academic journal articles from the website JSTOR without authorized permission. He was only 26 years old when he took his life on January 11.
“Aaron did not commit suicide but was killed by the government,” father Robert Swartz said during his son’s funeral service. “Someone who made the world a better place was pushed to his death by the government.”
In the wake of his passing, Lofgren asked for help in drafting changes to the CFAA that would ensure others like Swartz won’t stand in the face of similar sentences for nonviolent computer crimes. On Thursday, both Lofgren and Wyden co-authored an article on Wired.com introducing “Aaron’s Law Act of 2013” and explaining why they say reform must occur.
“The CFAA is a sweeping Internet regulation that criminalizes many forms of common Internet use,” they wrote. “It allows breathtaking levels of prosecutorial discretion that invites serious abuse. As Congress considers policies to preserve an open Internet as a platform for ideas and commerce, reforming the CFAA must be included.”
“As written, the CFAA makes it a federal crime to access a computer without authorization or in a way that exceeds authorization. Confused by that? You’re not alone. Congress never clearly described what this really means. As a result, prosecutors can take the view that a person who violates a website’s terms of service or employer agreement should face jail time,” the lawmakers wrote.
Read more at :-http://rt.com/usa/swartz-computer-law-cfaa-010/#.UcP6roW9cOw.twitter
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