New Yorker, The
Mapping Brookyln's Diverse Pirate-Radio Scene
The Federal Communications Commission has identified New York as a problem area, and Brooklyn, with its diverse immigrant communities, is the epicenter of the city’s pirate scene. In 2017, when President Donald Trump appointed Ajit Pai Chairman of the FCC, Pai promised to “take aggressive action” to stamp out pirates. In early May, the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement, or pirate, Act was introduced in Congress; it would increase fines from a maximum of a hundred and forty-four thousand dollars to two million dollars.
Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum
[Commentary] Silicon Valley’s biggest failing is not poor marketing of its products, or follow-through on promises, but, rather, the distinct lack of empathy for those whose lives are disturbed by its technological wizardry.
[Om Malik is a technology writer, the founder of GigaOm, and a partner at TrueVentures, a venture fund based in Palo Alto (CA)]
How and Old Hacking Law Hampers the Fight Against Online Discrimination
Thirty years ago, during the Reagan Administration, Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which was designed in large part to prohibit the theft of government data. (Reagan became interested in the issue after watching the 1983 film “WarGames,” in which a young hacker, played by Matthew Broderick, inadvertently gains access to a supercomputer that controls the US nuclear arsenal.) The text of the CFAA begins reasonably enough, by targeting hacks that put the national defense and foreign relations at risk. From there, though, the law grows like an algae bloom, expanding the definition of fraud to include any “unauthorized access” to a “protected computer.”
Rather than explaining precisely what “unauthorized” means, the CFAA leaves it up to the owner of the computer to decide. As a result, companies have the right to sue people who violate their terms of service, even for such mundane activities as sharing a password with a friend. What’s more, the federal government can subject alleged offenders to criminal prosecution, seeking to impose prison time and hefty fines, essentially turning the US Department of Justice into corporate muscle.