aaron swartz

If you've fudged on Facebook, you've committed a federal crime

23 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Aaron’s Law wouldn’t have kept Aaron out of prison.

A Silicon Valley congresswoman and an Oregon senator, both democrats, are introducing parallel bills that would tighten up the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Zoe Lofgren and Ron Wyden are titling it Aaron’s Law, in honor of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide after being charged with a tall stack of felonies for downloading a library’s worth of pay-walled academic journal articles at MIT.… More

You didn't buy that phone

26 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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An increasingly common criminal.

The latest move by Washington lobbyists to harnass the coercive force of government in pursuit of business models is bearing fruit today. Thanks to the Librarian of Congress, it’s now illegal to unlock a mobile phone you buy from a carrier. (H/T to the WCA’s David Witkowski for the heads up.)

The ruling came three months ago, and is only now taking effect. Previously, the Librarian of Congress, under authority granted by, well, congress under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said unlocking was legal.… More