Related to some research I've been doing for another class, there's been a lot of news lately regarding truthfulness on the web. This not only affects online dating sites like match.com but also social networking sites. Specifically Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is chairing a Senate Judiciary Committee seeking to remedy the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Initially enacted in 1986 as an amendment to the Counterfeit Access Device and Abuse Act passed in 1984, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) states that “anyone that accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds his/her authorized access of information from a protected computer if conduct involves interstate or foreign communication shall be punished.” CFAA covers seven types of criminal activity from National Security Info to Accessing to Defraud and Obtain Value and trafficking passwords. But the spirit of this legislation is to protect against violations committed by an outsider trespassing into a computer or an intruder who goes beyond the scope of his given authorization.
Leahy’s actions are largely grounded in the 2008 case, U.S. v. Drew, which opened the question on whether violating a website’s end user agreement was enough to substantiate a violation of CFAA after the Defendant, Lori Drew, may have been the catalyst for a teenager girl's suicide by lying to the girl on MySpace that she was a teenage boy, starting a "relationship" with her and then breaking up with her. The Plaintiff argued that Drew violated MySpace’s Terms of Service requiring members to provide accurate information in their profiles and prohibit harassment and abusive behavior. By violating these Terms of Service, Drew was “accessing MySpace’s computers without authorization when she logged onto her account." Drew was initially convicted but the ruling was later thrown out.
Some speculation arose as to whether "click the box" agreements to Terms of Use could be enforced as a contract breach and such a violation could be considered accessing a computer without authorization. Luckily there are still some folks on Capitol Hill bringing things back to reality. Senators Grassley, Franken (yes, Al Franken) and Lee have issued a clarification to protect the general public from being prosecuted for "white lies" on their online profiles. The amendment hasn't been enacted yet, at least it will provide some clarity on what is and isn't out of scope.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57324779-281/doj-lying-on-match.com-needs-to-be-a-crime/
No comments:
Post a Comment