The CFAA law and the 11th Day

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) was used to prosecute Aaron Swartz, a computer programmer, writer, political organizer, WikiLeaks supporter and Internet activist. According to friends and relatives Swartz was unwilling to spent a single day in jail for the crime of downloading one too many academic journals. Perhaps in his fight for justice and freedom, sometimes difficult to bare, he realized just like his predecessor that the only way of winning the battle was by taking his own life. On January 11th 2013, at his apartment in Brooklyn, New York, Aaron Swartz committed suicide.

It is important to remember the words of Jonathan James:

Remember, it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s whether I win or lose, and sitting in jail for 20, ten, or even five years for a crime I didn’t commit is not me winning. I die free.

Jonathan James killed himself at the age of 24, he had lost faith in the justice system, as he was convinced that the feds were trying to tie him to a crime he did not commit. He wanted to regain control, stop the ordeal his family went through. Jonathan James was apparently the first person put into solitary confinement for a federal cyber crime case.

Aaron Swartz’s attorney Elliot Peters pointed out that the Massachusetts assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Heymann was pursuing federal charges against his client to gain publicity. According to him, Heymann was looking for ‘some juicy looking computer crime cases and Aaron’s case, sadly for Aaron, fit the bill. He thought he was going to receive press and he was going to be a tough guy and read his name in the newspaper.’

The attorney also said that Stephen Heymann was threatening Swartz with potentially longer prison sentences if Swartz didn’t accept his plea deal offers.

Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann posted Charges against Aaron Swartz in a Press Release years before the court proceedings and trial, The Press Release constitutes no judicial process and it was posted prior to court rulings, it can be interpreted as a punitive and vindictive act by the US Attorney’s office whose job cannot be to exact punishment nor deal a death blow.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/news/2011/July/SwartzAaronPR.html

On January 11th 2017, another Internet activist, Martin Gottesfeld ends a 100-day hunger strike, to protest the abuse of power. Something that has been widely discussed as U.S. attorneys can hold their posts for as long as 10 years or more, a dangerous precedent if allied to third parties political interests, and social backgrounds that often place politicians and attorneys together. Thus, raising many questions regarding the impartiality of the U.S. Justice System.

Any sentence handed out under the CFAA law is acknowledged to be excessive and unfair in many aspects, because the law itself was written in order to severely punish anyone with spans of years and even decades in prison. In addition, the language used to write it down is not technical and it is unclear. Martin Gottesfeld could have been sentenced to approximately 25 years, not for committing any violent crime, but for doing the opposite.

Martin Gottesfeld had tried to save someone’s life. The life of Justina Pelletier, who was held at Boston Children’s Hospital, and kept under a gag order, where she could not be contacted by her family. In addition to that, her parents were also under a gag order, and they could not speak to the press. So, before taking matters on his own hands, Marty had gone in person to the F.B.I, as it is stated in his Reddit Q&A from March 11th, 2017.

"My wife and I even went to the FBI in person and pled for their assistance to save these children. They wouldn’t even talk to us. Eventually members of Anonymous proactively volunteered their support. They were the only ones willing to do anything so that greatly influenced my life."

Justina was one of the children held at Boston Children’s Hospital, who suffered torture and neglect, not being treated for her mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic disorder. The 16 month period of neglect by the hospital had cost Justina her health and she almost died. Her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier were in a custody battle to save her until June 18, 2014. When custody was finally returned to them. Justina was in a wheelchair.

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐏𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐲: ‘𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞’
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/justina-pelletier-released-state-custody-article-1.1848028

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐏𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬’ 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞
http://www.lifenews.com/2014/06/17/justina-pelletier-will-finally-be-released-to-her-parents-custody-to-go-home/

𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐰

Immediately, there were calls for an “Aaron’s Law” to limit the scope of the CFAA. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the proposal — prompting support from many advocacy groups, including the Demand Progress, a group Aaron Swartz had founded during his online campaign to stop the following bills. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), a series of bills promoted by Hollywood in the US Congress that would have a created a “blacklist” of censored websites.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/aarons-law-introduced-now-time-reform-cfaa
https://cdt.org/press/cdt-supports-“aaron’s-law”-reform-federal-computer-crime-law
http://www.publicknowledge.org/
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/
http://www.demandprogress.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_SOPA_and_PIPA

These bills were defeated by an enormous online campaign joined by EFF and a handful of other organizations, which culminated in the Internet Blackout on the January 18, 2012. Had these bills been passed five or ten years ago, even YouTube would not exist today — you might as well remember a period when they tried ending or limiting the use of songs in cover videos. They didn’t think it was enough to censor the word ‘fuck’ in songs.

Hanni Fakhoury, attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, mentioned in the past that the CFAA contains poor and vague language, making it possible interpretation and abuse by the prosecutors. In fact, the CFAA law as it is currently worded, states that a person can violate the law simply by exceeding authorized access, or doing something trivial like posting fake information on Facebook. A violation of the social networking site’s terms of service, or, in the case of Swartz, “downloading files in an efficient way that may be inconsiderate of other people’s use of the network.”

In addition, the penalties in CFAA are too severe, Fakhoury said. Specifically, its misdemeanor provision is too narrow, and most of the law’s possible offenses are classified as felonies, with a maximum punishment beginning at five years in prison. He said Lofgren’s proposal essentially would “codify” a recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐰, 𝐚 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭
https://www.wired.com/2013/06/aarons-law-is-finally-here/

“The proposed changes make clear that the CFAA does not outlaw mere violations of terms of service, website notices, contracts or employment agreements,” Lofgren explained in a summary (PDF) of the proposal.

There was once a tradition in Anonymous to bring forth justice and joy/lulz to such important dates, as a way to remind you of the past events. The brave activists who have fought were always aware of important days in the calendar. If you know the history of Anonymous you will probably remember Lulz Christmas. You will remember March, April, May, September, October, and the work of our brave comrades in arms all around the world. We love you from the bottom of our hearts. #BlackMarch #StopSOPA #StopPIPA

Yes, indeed Anonymous has had the support of many, forged many alliances with groups all around the world. In a few years Anonymous grew roots everywhere. We have taken delight in many leaks published by WikiLeaks and we will continue to do so. And this day, the 11th of January will never be forgotten, Aaron’s Law will win, and the CFAA law will finally be crushed and freedom restored to our heroes.