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Information activist, disruptive journalist, citizen technologist, blogger, and internaut

A timely petition requesting the Obama administration reforms the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Please sign it.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to reflect the realities of computing and networks in 2013.

It’s time to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act passed in 1986, which is outdated, and doesn’t reflect the realities of the Internet, networks and computers in 2013.

The act is much too open ended. Any reasonable use of a computer system that isn’t explicitly authorized can be classified a computer crime. This includes just doing a DNS lookup. And DNS lookups have been prosecuted (For an example of this, see Sierra Corporate Design (Jerry Reynolds) v. Ritz).

The law makes every ISP’s terms of service legally binding and something you can be put in prison for, which is very unbalanced. (See US v Lori Drew).

Using a bad law in a bad way to achieve a good result is never appropriate.

The act is far too broad and is subject to prosecutorial abuse and inappropriate use.

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  1. April 18, 2013

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