Did Stephen Colbert And President Bill Clinton Violate The CFAA?
from the another-day,-another-example dept
Last night, former President Bill Clinton joined Stephen Colbert on his TV show, The Colbert Report. As many people have noted, at the very end of the program, Colbert told Clinton that he had taken the liberty of signing him up for a Twitter account, since Clinton does not currently use Twitter (he joked that he was afraid no one would reply to his tweets). The Twitter account is @PrezBillyJeff, and Colbert sent Clinton's first tweet live while on the air. If you're in the US or the one or two other places that Hulu actually works, you can see the exchange below (if you're elsewhere, blame Viacom for being stupid):Let's jump over to Twitter's terms of service. There, they clearly forbid impersonation:
Impersonation: You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive othersNow, you could argue that Colbert registering an account for Clinton without his permission does not reach that level, but are you confident that someone else doing the same thing less publicly wouldn't run into problems if their tweets pissed someone off? An account that many people believe actually belongs to Bill Clinton would be highly valuable. Indeed, just overnight the account has racked up tens of thousands of followers. In the meantime, it's not even entirely clear who actually controls the account. Colbert registered it and tweeted from it. Are any future tweets coming from Colbert or Clinton or someone else? It's not difficult to make an argument that the account is intended to confuse others. Furthermore, if Colbert is transferring the account over to Clinton, it means that Clinton never actually agreed to the terms of service in the first place. Would that mean he is then abusing the use of the service?
While they appear to now have been deleted, according to the Washington Post, after the inaugural post done live on the air, there were a series of other tweets in which it was not clear if it was Clinton or Colbert tweeting. One had "Clinton" refer to "Colbert" as his new "BFF" and the tweets used the hashtag "#notColbertpretendingtobeme." At the very least, there is clear confusion, and a regular person might assume that this is Bill Clinton tweeting. If it's actually Colbert, it could be seen as a CFAA violation.
Yes, this is a stretch -- no doubt about it. But that's part of the problem with the CFAA. It is so broadly worded that simple activities like these can be twisted into a violation should someone in power wish to do so.
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Filed Under: bill clinton, cfaa, cfaa reform, impersonation, stephen colbert, terms of service
Companies: twitter
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So when are you going to address my points about your similar FUD post yesterday when you claimed that person was violating the DMCA and the CFAA by using somebody else's password (with that person's permission) to watch HBO Go? Are you not capable of defending what you right? You wouldn't misstate the law just to spread FUD, would you?
No, not Mike. He's as honest as a three dollar bill.
Yes, this is a stretch -- no doubt about it.
I'm glad we agree. What's the point of this mindless, idiotic FUD? Seriously. WTF is wrong with you? Can you just not calm down and take a step back? Do you really think the world is so terrible that you must make post after post spreading only idiotic FUD? Seriously, dude. WTF?
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CFAA using another person's password "illegally" through DMCA.
Your move, dickbag.
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As far as the CFAA claim is concerned, Mike didn't identify which part of the Act he is looking at. He mentioned the $5,000 threshold, and then had some FUD about how since Swartz met that threshold then this girl using someone else's password to watch GoT could be spun that way too. Of course, Swartz downloaded millions of articles that cost millions of dollars to produce, collate, host, etc., and the school spent more than that trying to stop him. So the analogy is completely idiotic...
But, hey, President Clinton violated the CFAA!!!! OMG, the law is so dumb!!!! President Clinton breaks the law, so we should too!!!! Yeah!!!
Sigh.
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Why do you think marijuana is now legal in some states?
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I'm pretty sure that it's illegal.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19450_6-laws-youve-broken-without-even-realizing-it.html
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Is it any coincidence that the states with the most liberal marijuana laws also seem to have the toughest gun laws? Could there be a move afoot to deprive people of guns and give 'em dope? What could be better to the government than a drug-addled (and disarmed) populace?
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Even Obama and Clinton did pot when they were younger. And George W. Bush did other drugs when he was younger.
Just pointing it out.
"What could be better to the government than a drug-addled (and disarmed) populace?"
A populace that doesn't care what the government does because Survivor is on?
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I honestly don't care. I barely drink alcohol.
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Yes - communist agendas.
They are all communists.
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Hollywood may have a somewhat so-called 'liberal' bias in their film-making, but they are nowhere close to communist. Plus, their management system is far too capitalist-abusive to be even socialist, let alone communist. Where is the 'common good' of how they treat their artists or the public?
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Hate mongering is such a popular pastime with the rightwing nutterz, it would be funny if they were not in positions of power and influence.
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Swartz downloaded millions of articles that are sold for what, $20 - $40 each? Plus, the school spent thousands trying to stop him from continuing his unauthorized access.
It's just not comparable.
P.S. I threw the part in about the costs because Mike pretends like JSTOR has nothing of value and spends nothing to create their complex, valuable, and expensive database that some pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to access because it's so valuable.
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Heck, they could price the thing at trillions of dollars if they want, that doesn;t make it worth trillions. If that;s the reaosn you think it was okay to go after Swartz... that's dumb.
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That's what Mike wants to believe as well, but that's not value is calculated under the CFAA--which is all that matters here.
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Here's your problem.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-authority
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Really? And where, other than your ass, did you pull this from? Swartz was in that cupboard for just a short while and from what I've heard, was only stopped via IP and MAC address blocking. He was arrested after only a short while. So how on earth could they have spent thousands of dollars blocking his intrusion? How could anyone, unless your IT security personnel are the best in the world who demand thousands per hour?
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Fuck off. You're not welcome here.
Yours,
People who actually do debate and argue, rather than childish whining.
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Thanks for adding nothing to the conversation.
Signed,
Nobody
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This from the person posting the same idiotic schtick over and over and over and over and over and over and over...
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@AC
If everyone is doing things that the law deems criminal, the government has the power to go after ANYONE they choose to coerce and bully them. The fact that they won't use the law against everyone who breaks it doesn't make it okay; it's part of the problem. Enforcemenent of the law should be fair, equal, and transparent (ie. when you break the law, you should know that what you're doing is wrong). Of course the law wasn't intended to go after the HBO GO password borrower, or Stephen Colbert, but the fact that it COULD be used to coerce them into doing whatever the govt wants is a huge problem.
What is hard to udnerstand about that? Aaron Swartz could have been any of us.
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That is not clear. However, the Justice Department thinks this is the case. So you could be prosecuted, but perhaps not convicted, depending on which court you landed in.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Lori_Drew
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Finally!
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As long as you're suggesting that a former President of the United States has violated a criminal law, could you be so kind as to identify exactly which part of the CFAA you think he violated?
That way, we can run through the elements and do the actual analysis. I mean, you wouldn't suggest that President Clinton committed a crime without being able to walk us through it, right? You're not THAT desperate, are you?
Thanks!
P.S. It's so dumb it fucking hurts. Seriously, dude. This is most desperate thing I've seen in a long time, suggesting that President Clinton committed a criminal act. It's a new low for you, which is incredible. Seriously.
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Violating ToS could be considered a CFAA violation.
1. Colbert set up an account in Bill Clinton's name.
2. He tweeted something in Bill Clinton's name.
I.E. Colbert violated Twitter's ToS.
With laws that vague that it makes just about everyone guilty, doesn't that mean the law should be scrapped? I guess you would want to live in a society were selective laws are written and are judged on an ad-hoc basis.
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Just like links and search engines help piracy.
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Suggesting President Clinton HASN'T committed a criminal act requires such an amazing level of hiding under a rock that I'm beginning to wonder if you people haven't discovered some form of dimension hopping. Take a look at the USA criminal code, then find me a person who has not broken some law.
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In fact, most people commit at least 3 felonies a day.
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That you know of.
What about all the secret laws, have you violated any of those? If not, how do you know this - because you probably lack legal access to said secret law verbiage and therefore you are guilty of obtaining classified information illegally - sent him to gitmo.
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btw
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1bzzgk/we_are_activists_and_academics_who_support_refor m/
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Or is that bad policy design?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Airport_Centers,_L.L.C._v._Citrin
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/LVRC_Holdings_v._Brekka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Nosal
It is important to note that so far none of these individuals have been convicted of criminal charges under the CFAA, well, except Brekka, who was found guilty by jury but later overturned. These cases are likely to end up at SCOTUS level since two districts have found different interpretations of the CFAA.
The key point is that they were successfully charged under the CFAA. The result is irrelevant; the cases were still heard. District judges don't hear cases without merit; if it is obvious that a charge will be dismissed it's never brought to court, let alone given a guilty verdict.
When it's not clear whether or not a particular action is a violation of a law that is, by definition, vague. I seem to remember an issue or two with vague laws.
The ubiquitous "on a computer system"-style laws may have worked back in the 90s before computers were in virtually every household in the U.S. It's time to take a close look at those laws with a bit more technical knowledge and understanding, something that was clearly lacking when these laws were written.
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wow you are desperate..
" While not all courts agree, the DOJ has argued that merely disobeying a website's terms of service means that you've violated the CFAA by accessing content either without authorization or by exceeding authorization. "
what 'content' was accessed by someone writing a tweet ???
Your a moron Mansick...
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Everyone else seems to be capable of doing so, what is your malfunction?
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wow you are desperate..
He's getting more and more desperate as time goes on. It's awesomely hilarious. I love this place.
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