ToS Violations No Longer a Crime (On Their Own)

nonprofiteer writes "The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act previously made 'unauthorized access to a computer system' a crime — meant to apply to hackers, it also criminalized violations of a website's ToS or of a workplace's computer policies. The law is being changed to make the crime a felony rather than a misdemeanor, which led some to worry about the potential for its abuse. However, Senators Franken and Grassley added an amendment (PDF) to exempt violations of ToS and employer policies from the lists of felony activity. w00t for common sense."

ToS - Works both ways

[XanC]

I use the "Modify Headers" FF extension to add the following to all my browser requests:

X-Terms-Of-Service: By responding to this request, you agree to place no restrictions on the requesting user's use of the data you send, and that no subsequent terms of service may modify this provision.

Re:Troll business model.

[phantomfive]

You think that's a joke, but it's been tried. The "Computer Fraud and Abuse Act" has been around since the 80s, and strengthened several times. It is bad law. [wsj.com]

In one case, a company set up a website whose terms of use prohibited visiting the website. When their competitor visited, they sued. In another case, someone put a fake profile picture on MySpace and was charged with a crime. You can be sued for checking personal email at work or visiting Facebook.This is law made by people who don't understand computers very well. It also applies to any computer, so if you don't follow the terms of service for a microwave, you can be sued.