Researchers Sue the Government Over Computer Hacking Law
https://www.wired.com/2016/06/researchers-sue-government-computer-hacking-law/
But four academic researchers who specialize in uncovering
algorithmic discrimination say that a decades-old federal
anti-hacking statute is preventing them from doing work to
detect such discrimination. They say a provision of the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act could be used to criminally
prosecute them for research that involves scraping publicly
available data from these sites or creating anonymous user
accounts on them, if the sites's terms of service prohibit
this activity. The researchers, along with First Look Media
Works, which publishes The Intercept, filed a lawsuit today
against the Justice Department, asserting that opening fake
profiles to pose as job and housing seekers constitutes speech
and expressive activity that is protected under the First
Amendment. They further argue that because sites can change
their terms of service at any time without informing visitors,
this can suddenly turn any speech or activity on the site into
a criminal act--a violation, they say, of the Fifth Amendment
right to due process, which requires proper notice to the
public of what constitutes criminal behavior.
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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