Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet. So you could be jailed for lying about your age or weight on an Internet dating site. Or you could be sent to federal prison if your boss told you to work but you used the company’s computer to check sports scores online. Imagine that Eric Holder’s Justice Department urged Congress to raise penalties for violations, making them felonies allowing three years in jail for each broken promise. Fanciful, right?
Think again. Congress is now poised to grant the Obama administration’s wishes in the name of “cybersecurity.”
The little-known law at issue is called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It was enacted in 1986 to punish computer hacking. But Congress has broadened the law every few years, and today it extends far beyond hacking. The law now criminalizes computer use that “exceeds authorized access” to any computer. Today that violation is a misdemeanor, but the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet this morning to vote on making it a felony.
The problem is that a lot of routine computer use can exceed “authorized access.”
Some of those issues were headed off, but that’s only some and who knows if the amendments will survive. Here’s the latest.
No worries, that commie progressive organization the ACLU will come rescue your sorry asses from yourselves.
Gee people could be arrested for posting negative comments against Obama…..
#3, Ah, yes, “Super Dooper.” (that’s what we called it, don’t remember the real term) IIRC, root has to grant you that priv so you aren’t actually hacking.
It’s been a few years since I did any (U/Li/Xe)nix. When I read your post, I had a sudden inrush of memories. Woah!
So we can just throw her in jail now.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q4_03sYxRAg
If “Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet.”
Were true, wouldn’t Obama throw himself in jail first??
In #7 h_Yea said; …wouldn’t Obama throw himself in jail first?
Don’t you know that the law doesn’t apply to killers, thieves and lawyers, oh, and politicians who can debate on the meaning of is until the cows come home and, if the rhetoric is entertaining enough, win an argument.
Its called the erosive power of government, chiefly fought by a single quote:
what a bunch of stupid , corrupt old men
You wonder who the victims of 911 are
Us
We are stupid to allow them to rule us in the first place – we are the morons I guess
mbpodcast.
Oh, you’re right. I forgot…
So, couldn’t downloading P0rn be considered Computer Abuse?
Fucktards voted for the idiot, what did you expect? Same shit from Bush.
Lots of laws if taken to their full extent would be disasterous==laws we agree with.
Take assault, battery, trespass.
Assault: Looking like you are going to battery someone.
Battery: touching someone without their permission.
Trespass: Being somewhere without permission.
So–computer crimes. My Magic Eightball says: It all depends.
Same as it ever was.
Land of the free?
Not so much anymore….
I give the United States another 100-125 years of existence.
“I give the United States another 100-125 years of existence.”
… and then what?
In #13 bobbo said: … Magic Eightball says: It all depends …
By definition… Words matter.
The definition of legal is based on the Latin root “legare” which means “to choose“.
All law is based on a choice, made by/for us, to let us live with each other.
Its just that the current economic imbalance means that some individuals have a great deal more latitude in the choices available to them.
Barring the execrable behavior and some jack-booted attitude in New York “Finest,” its not quite at the level of sending people out with weapons to hunt us down and wipe some of us out with impunity, like the sick, the lame and the unemployed.
We’re not living in some Mexican border town after all, and that kind of militant action would certainly raise some eyebrows and cause more than mere tongue-clucks.
Bernie Madoff only got caught when the Ponzi scheme collapsed on its own, (there are irresponsable watch-dogs at the S.E.C. who deserve the next cell,) but he did not just walk off with all the ill-gotten gains. (Somewhere some bond trader is wearing silk shorts with the monogram B.M. out of a sense of irony.)
The fact that Bernie is the most respected person in the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina, is cold comfort. Being highly regarded by other poor convicts still means you’re going to die in an 8’x10′ cell with cinderblock for 3 walls and bars for the fourth. (Poor is the most damning thing to be in this country. [The only difference between Madoff and some poor schmuck who’s dying in a gutter is that the homeless schmuck is in even worse shape.{Just goes to show there’s no such thing as justice.}])
#3 – “I’ve never intentionally abused a computer.”
Oh, you wouldn’t believe what I’ve done…
In # 15 Skeptic said: … and then what?
I refer the writer to look at old maps from less that 100 years ago that had names of countries and entire empires that no longer currently exist.
It is sheer hubris to think of as artificial a construct as a country as eternal.
I would refer the reader to Percy Bische Shelley:
I guess they will make even having a computer a violation of the “Fraud and Abuse” act !!! Imaging getting jailed for “Possession” of a Computer “With Intent” !!!
The solution of course, if for Juries – that means me and you if empaneled – to vote to AQUIT IN ALL CASES – IN SPITE OF THE EVIDECE !!! Thereby ASSERTING THE RIGHT OF THE JURY TO ***NULLIFY*** ACTS OF CONGRESS !!! (Applies in POT Cases too !!!)
P.S. If you want to get off Jury Duty, ask the officials about “Jury Nullification” and they won’t ask you again !!!
In # 17 e? said: …you wouldn’t believe what I’ve done…
YEW! This is USB hub is all sticky…
In # 19 JimD said: If you want to get off Jury Duty, ask the officials about “Jury Nullification” and they won’t ask you again !!!
My friend [name withheld] told my wife when she was called on jury duty:
You people need to use your brains, this knee-jerk idiocy only makes you look stupid.
You can’t lie in a letter mailed in the post, you know, it’s called mail fraud. This primarily just extends postal laws to the internet.
I’d like someone to show me where you are allowed to do any of these things through regular mail. You can’t claim a false identity in a mail to someone, you can’t lie in mail to someone, you can’t make false claims in mail, and the list goes on. Mail fraud is also a very, very serious charge, and so should email violations.
I’ve argued publicly that we should just create .USPS email that is regulated, and let the rest of the web be as crazy as it likes. That way you can have regulated legal email on one hand with laws protecting it, and still let the web be as wild and wooley as it likes.
#6 make up for some of your ignorant sheepleness and donate to the ACLU
The ACLU only persues cases that are within it’s agenda. Ever hope to see in your lifetime the ACLU standing up for the 2nd or 10th Amendments?
The Shelly quote was beautiful.
Isn’t there a quote that talks about a future time when EVERYTHING is illegal?
Faxon: Does this mean you can now die a happy man? 😉
Obama’s website says Obamacare would reduce the deficit. So 3 years in jail, perhaps starting now.
msbpodcast–so eloquent, so off point. What’s up wid dat? And of course, the subsidiary: how come when you are on point you make no sense at all? What kind of binary gate is that?
Ha, ha. But I’ve been lulled into digressing myself.
Yes—words have a meaning==and they are as defined. The law uses words to define what is legal and illegal and society defines what laws actually are enforced through various mechanisms, mostly down to funding.
Seems like so much of life is defined by…..money.
Same as it ever was.
If I whacked my computer with a baseball bat, would they know? If all other analysis fails try urinallysis.
Makes sense. There have been mail fraud laws for ~ 100 years.
Will it still be legal to go to images-dot-google-dot-com and search on “turd”? Can you then legally send the results to flag@whitehouse.gov?
Quit your bitching and see if Michele Obama is abusing her vacation privileges.