another stupid internet law

As the logo to the lower right indicates, I support the Internet Defense League. Aaron Swartz, who developed some of the technologies on which the web depends, killed himself after being hounded by law enforcement over questionable clauses in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

According to the Internet Defense League:

The expansive CFAA was first passed in the mid-1980s, before most households had computers, let alone Internet access.  Yet law enforcement has interpreted it to criminalize even mundane Internet use, such as petty violations of websites' fine-print terms of service agreements.  Under this interpretation commonplace Internet use would technically be criminalized, including:

• Sharing passwords for Facebook or other social media sites with friends;
• Starting a social media profile under a pseudonym; 
• Exaggerating your height on a dating site;
• Visiting a site if you're under the stipulated age requirement (under 18 for many sites)
• Blocking cookies in a way that enables you to circumvent a news site's paywall.  (For instance, the New York Times website cannot block those who delete cookies from reading more than the allotted number of free articles each month.)

Additionally, it is under the CFAA that law enforcement has undertaken a recent spate of prosecutions of questionable merit -- including that of our friend and Demand Progress cofounder Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide earlier this year while being prosecuted for downloading too many academic articles from JSTOR.

You can go to this site and easily contact lawmakers with your views about the bill. Check it out.