A criminal offense to violate a ToS? - GoFuckYourself.com

mountainmiester · 11-16-2011, 02:02 PM

I don't know if anyone has posted this yet as I can't find it.

A new proposed law from the Justice Department to make it a criminal offense to violate a ToS.

"The Justice Department claims to have an interest in enforcing Terms of Use and computer use policies under the CFAA, but its examples mostly consist of cases in which the conduct described has already been criminalized by statutes other than the CFAA. Further, my proposed statutory fix (see the second proposal in my testimony) would preserve the government's ability to prosecute the remaining cases DOJ mentions while not raising the civil liberties problems of the current statute." - Orin Kerr

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57...to-be-a-crime/

signupdamnit · 11-16-2011, 02:09 PM

If you read the article they cite the Lori Drew child bullying case on Myspace as an example. So what it's REALLY about is probably making it illegal to have a fake myspace or facebook account. This way you'll be easier to track and prosecute you. This sort of legislation could be very important if for example it gets to the point where you MUST have a Facebook account to comment anywhere or post on a forum. Of course the ramifications might go far beyond this too such as the possibility for corporations to jail you for breaking their ToS.

11-16-2011, 02:02 PM	#1
mountainmiester Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arizona Posts: 509	A criminal offense to violate a ToS? I don't know if anyone has posted this yet as I can't find it. A new proposed law from the Justice Department to make it a criminal offense to violate a ToS. "The Justice Department claims to have an interest in enforcing Terms of Use and computer use policies under the CFAA, but its examples mostly consist of cases in which the conduct described has already been criminalized by statutes other than the CFAA. Further, my proposed statutory fix (see the second proposal in my testimony) would preserve the government's ability to prosecute the remaining cases DOJ mentions while not raising the civil liberties problems of the current statute." - Orin Kerr http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57...to-be-a-crime/ __________________ Randall Crockett LIMELIGHT NETWORKS [email protected]

11-16-2011, 02:09 PM	#2
signupdamnit Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 6,697	If you read the article they cite the Lori Drew child bullying case on Myspace as an example. So what it's REALLY about is probably making it illegal to have a fake myspace or facebook account. This way you'll be easier to track and prosecute you. This sort of legislation could be very important if for example it gets to the point where you MUST have a Facebook account to comment anywhere or post on a forum. Of course the ramifications might go far beyond this too such as the possibility for corporations to jail you for breaking their ToS.