Proposed Amendments to 18 U.S.C. 1030

There has been a lot of interest in amending the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in light of the Aaron Swartz prosecution. I have drafted some changes and uploaded a red-lined version here.

My proposal has lots of parts, but the big ones are: (1) eliminating liability for exceeding authorized access, (2) tightening the felony thresholds throughout the statute, and (c) eliminating several sections of the statute, including 1030(a)(3) and (a)(4), which are redundant, and 1030(g), the civil liability provision which is chiefly responsible for the overly expansive readings of the statute.

No rewriting of a statute is going to be perfect, but perhaps this proposed redrafting will be of interest to some who are debating the future of this statute.

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes