CFAA: Where the computer security law is broken

Educators and activists representing a swath of organizations and institutions -- from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to George Washington University -- took to Reddit in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) interview, seeking to educate the public about the controversial Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and to push for reform.

"We are here to discuss the [CFAA] which we are striving to reform, and under which Aaron Swartz, Andrew Auernheimer (weev), and others have been prosecuted and which potentially makes felons out of millions of Americans by criminalizing website terms of service violations," the participants explained. The participants in the AMA laid out their case as to why the CFAA needs reform in the opposite direction: "We hail from across the political spectrum and we have somewhat divergent opinions about what the ideal CFAA would look like. But we all agree that the CFAA allows law enforcement to engage in frivolous prosecutions and/or to seek penalties that are severely disproportionate to alleged offenses -- and that this stifles innovation and speech and must be fixed."