DOJ & Congress: Don't Punish Teenagers Who Read News Online
- by: Kristi Arnold
- recipient: Eric H. Holder, Jr. Attorney General of the United States, House Judiciary Committee Members: John Conyers, Michigan, Ranking Member and Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, Chairman
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has instituted a new policy that would make it a crime to break the terms of service of a website - the problem is that many website (including news sites) state in the fine print that no one under 18 can access their pages. This could be a major problem for teens doing research for school.
The DOJ of both the Bush and Obama administrations have embraced an expansive interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that would literally make it a crime for many kids to read the news online.
Some sites must have recognized the problem and crafted their policies to only forbid users under the age of 13. These include the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Arizona Republic.
The potential criminalization of terms of service is a prime reason that Congress needs to overhaul CFAA and it’s why the House Judiciary Committee should abandon the seemingly DOJ-drafted bill it floated recently and instead sit down with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Darrell Issa, and others to negotiate real reform.
Tell the DOJ and Congress to stop criminalizing newspaper reading for teens.
Dear Sirs,
We the undersigned ask that you stop criminalizing newspaper reading for teens.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has instituted a new policy that would make it a crime to break the terms of service of a website - the problem is that many website (including news sites) state in the fine print that no one under 18 can access their pages. This could be a major problem for teens doing research for school.
The DOJ of both the Bush and Obama administrations have embraced an expansive interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that would literally make it a crime for many kids to read the news online.
Some sites must have recognized the problem and crafted their policies to only forbid users under the age of 13. These include the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Arizona Republic.
The potential criminalization of terms of service is a prime reason that Congress needs to overhaul CFAA and it’s why the House Judiciary Committee should abandon the seemingly DOJ-drafted bill it floated recently and instead sit down with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Darrell Issa, and others to negotiate real reform.
