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You may recall that the U.S. Department of Justice once used the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to prosecute a woman who created a fake MySpace account and then verbally berated a 13-year-old girl, a girl who committed suicide as a result. The DoJ was successful, at first, because the grown woman's act of creating a fake account ran afoul of MySpace's terms of service. She was convicted, and then later had the ruling overturned. The DoJ is now expected to make a statement saying it should be able to prosecute users who ignore ToS guidelines.
CNet's Declan McCullagh claims to have obtained a statement the DoJ will present to Congress tomorrow, and in it the DoJ says the law has to allow "prosecutions based upon a violation of terms of service or similar contractual agreement with an employer or provider."
What's tough about about this is hardly anyone actually reads lengthy terms of service policies, but if the DoJ gets its way, it would be illegal to use a fake name on a social networking site. That's just one example. As CNet points out, even lying about your weight on a dating site could be considered illegal, depending on the site's ToS.
CNet says the DoJ is banking on a broad restriction in the CFAA that prohibits any computer act that "exceeds authorized access." That line was never intended for this sort of thing, but be that as it may, the DoJ wants it to legally apply to ToS policies. Otherwise, it "would make it difficult or impossible to deter and address serious insider threats through prosecution," the DoJ argues.
Comments are closed on this article
MicahDeiter
November 30, 2011 at 12:45pm
Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me! People lie online all day and night and now they're going to make lying illegal? I'm sorry, but we're not under oath online, and thus, it can't be illegal. Why do lawmakers insist on taking more and more of our rights away daily? Really now. I met a girl on one of the popular dating sites who said he was athletic when she was more like average. Is she going to be prosecuted? What a joke this country has become!
Ghost XFX
November 16, 2011 at 8:30am
...But will they get rid of hackers too? I doubt it. therefore, they can shove it!
We don't need the Feds to butt in on On-line affairs. I an understand the issue of this woman berating the teenager with a fake account. That's idiocy at it's very worse. But some people online protect themselves in the same manner, so they don't have to deal with hacked accounts and other spam and phishing issues...
Instead of Online problems, they need to dump Eric Holder on his head for his part in "Fast and Furious". Deal with that first, then come back to the Net world.
Ghok
November 15, 2011 at 7:15pm
Why doesn't this Myspace case not fall under some sort of harassment law? The woman purposely misled and hurt this girl who ended up killing herself as a result. What does it matter that it was on a computer? And if we do need a new law to stop this type of harassment, then make one specifically for that. The idea that we need a law that makes it illegal to violate TOS is MADNESS. It's hard to believe that anyone would even try that... it sure would benefit a lot of people with deep pockets (I'm just sayin').
tornato7
November 15, 2011 at 6:14pm
I'm going tostart a site with a 500 page ToS after this, and one of the clauses will say 'by agreeing to this you hereby relinquish all of your worldly possesions to the site's owner.' This could work out.
kiaghi7
November 15, 2011 at 3:38pm
This will -=NEVER=- fly, no matter how draconian this regime's "department of injustice" wants to be...
First, they could with such a preposterous law, penalize all the "G.I.R.L." (Guy In Real Life) players out there, of which there are many, and I will attest that I've made several female characters for online games, however I've never represented myself as a female.
Anyway, the ridiculousness of it exceeds all reasonable measure or ability to even remotely enforce.
More over, a Terms of Service AGREEMENT is precisely that, an agreement between two or more individuals and/or entities. It in no way is legally binding or punishable under the law because it is nothing more than its name suggests, an agreement. It is effectively a set of ground-rules agreed to by both sides, that so long as the end-user behaves they will have access to the provider's product and/or service.
The courts have long since weighed in on this, TOS agreements are not legally binding nor punishable under the law for failures ON EITHER PART to met the stipulations of the agreement.
aarcane
November 15, 2011 at 2:50pm
That's absolute rubbish. In our nation, we don't mix civil and criminal law. TOS is closely related to (unenforcable) contract law, which is CIVIL. Prosecution is used in CRIMINAL law cases. That's like saying we should round up everyone who's ever given a coupon they didn't want to a friend and throw them in jail. That's like saying we should take every contractor who's ever failed to finish on time and on budget and imprison them. That's like saying everyone whose ever done something silly and gotten a warning notice on their door from management and lock them up.
EULAs and TOS' are a fluster-cuck when it comes to enforcability in the US. Many of the terms in most TOS' would likely not hold up in court anyway, Especially those the DOJ wants to use to prosecute on.
ShyLinuxGuy
November 15, 2011 at 2:29pm
If the DoJ is spending its time pursuing this bullsh!t (such as someone lying about how much they weigh, where they work, etc) then it's pretty obvious they have nothing better to do, and thus the employees participating in this do not need a job. There are always things that are considered "illegal", but then the courts (most, anyway) look down on *really* petty offenses. If someone abuses the ToS to say, gather information off of a social network site en masse, then yes, it's something the DoJ may want to look into. But if someone is fibbing on Facebook, and they make a big deal about it, then it's time to add more people to the unemployment statistic =P
Bad Kharma
November 15, 2011 at 2:18pm
Jumping from a civil case to a criminal one is a great stretch of the imagination and of the law. Does this mean that every celebrity who operates under a stage name is also a target for prosecution?
I do use usernames like Bad Kharma, not because I am afraid of what I say, but because idiots like Anonymous and their friends are petty individuals and prefer to remain as anomyous as I can rather than make it easier for them to find me or more importantly, my computer.
0ly1r3m@1ns
November 15, 2011 at 1:44pm
hey anonymouse hey boy i got some thing for you to hack!
this law really pisses me off i use lots of fake names online, why? because i dont want them to know who i am and look at sony steam and all that stuff people hack it get it and id rather Mr johncockerdoodle on there insteed of my name.... DOJ this is the internet your not going to win
tkid124
November 15, 2011 at 12:49pm
At times laws do need to be changed, there have been horrendous crimes that have taken place, and because there was no law against it, the perpetrator was either convicted of a much lesser crime or was set free. Do states need anti-bulling laws, yes. Should we have laws that make elicit or unauthorized access illegal? Yes. Should the courts have a say in violations of ToS? Only in civil court, or criminal court but only for violating a government website's ToS.
The idea that online activity is somehow different than face to face and needs the DoJ to interfere with private business when they would never prosecute for a contract violation that was done face to face for the same violation is beyond silly.
The DoJ will of course promise proprietorial discretion. Then again, I think congress should take some discretion on this for them, by insuring that they don't have the right to file charges for just any ToS violations, only those relating to elicit or unauthorized access to a server, data, software, etc.
Nimrod
November 15, 2011 at 12:19pm
People, if this isnt TYRANNY than nothing is. Oops, i might be breaking the MPC ToS and that is now seems to be LAW.
Fuck the DOJ
zNelson24
November 15, 2011 at 11:59am
I think they're going about this the wrong way. Instead of prosecuting someone for violating a ToS, how about they prosecute the woman for, as this article has put it, "created a fake MySpace account and then verbally berated a 13-year-old girl, a girl who committed suicide as a result."
firefox91
November 15, 2011 at 11:24am
So if I root my new Android phone, Verizon will have me sent to jail. Great. I can't wait until Bubba asks me what I am in the tank for.
"Well, I rooted my phone"
"Well, I'm going to root your ass boy! Now come here!"
EducationalGeek
November 15, 2011 at 10:31am
Maybe the DOJ should go after these companies ala Facebook for screwing with people's information...
AntonioGarrison
November 15, 2011 at 11:14am
Won't happen. You sign a ToS, giving them the OK to use that information. People willingly give it away.
EducationalGeek
November 17, 2011 at 10:10am
Not necessarily, Facebook uses data in ways that are outside the TOS they have. So do alot of other companies...
oldobamaliar
November 15, 2011 at 10:29am
democrats will be the death of this free nation. obama is the pied piper of destruction. when you wake up one day soon and are no longer allowed think or speak your own mind and the liberal "utopia" is finally achieved then will you fucking democrats be happy? democrats=comminust traitors
Ghok
November 15, 2011 at 7:18pm
I think someone needs to go look up the word "Liberal" in the dictionary. It's pretty close to "Liberty", just in case you were wondering.
firefox91
November 15, 2011 at 11:19am
Oh stop with the political ranting. Try having a free-thinking and INDEPENDENT mind for once. All that swill that Fox News is feeding you is rotting your brain. Democrat or Republican, they are all still crooks.
biggiebob12345
November 15, 2011 at 1:12pm
I'm an independent and I've indpendetly decided that while Republicans occassianlly do some things wrong, Democrats uniformly do everything wrong. Lesser of two evils....I'd vote libertarian if it would matter.
Scatter
November 15, 2011 at 11:17am
You're right, we should all be able to lie freely like most Republicans do.
Keith E. Whisman
November 15, 2011 at 9:55am
So the only liars in this country will be those that run the government. The politicians will never be prosecuted for lying but damn, you better not violate the TOS that MS Typed up.
Someone put a pink slip on Eric Holder's desk please. This dude needs to be fired ASAP. Eric Holder is the United States Attorney General and head of the Dept of Justice or DOJ (and not the Justice League.)
But anyhow, how in the hell can they think this is a good idea? These are fucking democrats that want to put the companies in charge of the government. If this becomes law then the companies will pretty much run the country, this is the exact argument that my liberal friends give me about what Republicans want to do but its democrats that are doing it.
biggiebob12345
November 15, 2011 at 9:50am
Notice how prior to this administration there was no significant headlines for them? Now they're doing something stupid on a weekly basis. All part of the democrat's plan to power grab.
Blues22475
November 15, 2011 at 9:46am
Once again, this is our government trying to regulate something it clearly does not understand. Now when I create a alias online it's to protect my identity (to some extent). Now I have to put my actual name out there on the net because the DoJ?
Imo, they're trying to regulate something, and they fail every time they create some kind of "regulation" because it always contradicts something else.
routine
November 15, 2011 at 9:36am
Nice... so now companies write laws in the form of ToS.
And may I remind all you libtards out there, this is a democratic administration doing this.
compro01
November 15, 2011 at 10:01am
And the republicans will be cheering it on in a show of "bipartisan solidarity".
routine
November 15, 2011 at 12:05pm
Oh.. I have the same contempt for the republicans.... I just grow tired of the liberal hipocracy.
Brad Chacos
November 15, 2011 at 9:19am
That's crap. TOS violations should be between the user and the company alone, anyways.
LatiosXT
November 15, 2011 at 9:06am
I think there's something wrong when the people who supposedly uphold the law change it so they can prosecute people.
rawrnomnom
November 15, 2011 at 9:15am
this was probably all spearheaded by a politician who was sleeping around, and one time he used an online dating site to meet with someone described as "athletic" who ended up weighing 300 lbs...
rawrnomnom
November 15, 2011 at 8:56am
Ummm.... how bout you idiots stop screwing with the internet, take a pay cut, and actually fix something thats broken. The stupidity of political figures never ceases to amaze me...
Nimrod
November 15, 2011 at 12:22pm
Now now, im sure they WILL be willing to take a pay cut! Right before they vote them selvs a raise!
