ACLU, FreedomWorks officials oppose House Judiciary's draft cyber bill

Over a dozen officials from cyber liberties and conservative advocacy groups voiced opposition to a draft cybersecurity bill that would stiffen the penalties for the anti-hacking law used to charge Internet activist Aaron Swartz.

Top representatives from the Center for Democracy and Technology, Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform Digital Liberty arm and the Tea Party-affiliated FreedomWorks, among others, urged leaders of the House Judiciary Committee in a letter to reject the language proposed in the draft bill, which may be considered for markup as early as this month. The officials said the draft bill would dangerously expand the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) so it would give prosecutors "a free hand" to go after ordinary Internet users for violating a website's terms of service or employer's computer policy. "It is unreasonable to expand CFAA penalties when the statute already makes illegal so much of what Americans do with computers every day," the letter reads. "Expanding the scope of the CFAA to cover even more conduct is even more dangerous."