[act-ma] ACTION: 4/8 - 4/9: Demand Progress: CFAA has got to go!

[pf soto]

-------- Original Message --------

We need to beat back a bad proposal to expand the Computer Fraud and 
Abuse Act (CFAA) -- in a hurry.  So we're asking Demand Progress members 
and the broader Internet Defense League to snap into action next week, 
especially Monday and Tuesday (April 8th and 9th.)

*1) You can read more and grab code for our embeddable contact-Congress 
widgets by clicking here: www.FixTheCFAA.com 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/908?t=1&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>*
We'd ask you to post them to your site to help let your visitors know 
about this threat, and to spur them to get involved.  You'll be joining 
*Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, EFF, Boing Boing, Reddit*, and 
other great groups and sites as we stand together against this awful 
proposal.
*2) You can use these links to ask your friends to take part:*
*
*
[fb] 	If you're already on *Facebook*, click here to share with your 
friends. 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/909?t=2&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>
[fb] 	If you're already on *Twitter*, click here to tweet about the 
campaign: Tweet 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/910?t=3&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>

As many of you probably know, our friend (and friend to many of you) 
*Aaron Swartz* committed suicide earlier this year, while he was being 
prosecuted for downloading too many academic articles from the JSTOR 
cataloguing site.  Prosecutors were hanging four decades in prison over 
his head!

Aaron was *charged under the CFAA,* a law that passed in the mid-80s, 
before more than a handful of Americans even had personal computers -- 
let alone Internet access.

Yet law enforcement interprets this statute so broadly that it claims it 
*criminalizes all sorts of mundane Internet use*: potentially even 
breaking a website's fine print terms of service agreement.  Don't set 
up a Myspace page for your cat.  Don't fudge your height on a dating 
site.  Don't share your Facebook password with anybody, ever. *You could 
be exposed to prosecution for a federal crime.*

We've been pushing to change this, and have made some progress: Reps and 
Senators are pulling together a proposal called "Aaron's Law".

But... then last week members of the House Judiciary Committee floated 
an audacious proposal that would actually *expand and harshen certain 
parts of the CFAA*.  Think of it as the opposite of Aaron's Law.  And 
we're hearing that it could come up for a vote as soon as next week.
**
*
*
*We need your helping mobilizing your visitors as we strive to beat back 
this awful proposal and to build momentum for Aaron's Law.*
*1) You can read more and grab code for our embeddable contact-Congress 
widgets by clicking here: www.FixTheCFAA.com 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/908?t=4&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>*
We'd ask you to post them to your site to help let your visitors know 
about this threat, and to spur them to get involved.  You'll be joining 
*Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, EFF, Boing Boing, Reddit*, and 
other great groups and sites as we stand together against this awful 
proposal.
*2) You can use these links to ask your friends to take part:*
*
*
[fb] 	If you're already on *Facebook*, click here to share with your 
friends. 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/909?t=5&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>
[fb] 	If you're already on *Twitter*, click here to tweet about the 
campaign: Tweet 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/910?t=6&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>

Reforming the CFAA is a real chance for the US Congress to make laws 
governing the Internet better and fairer.  And it's a chance for the 
coalition that came together around SOPA to actually pass positive 
reform. *If all of us take action next week*, it won't just kill a bad 
bill, it will help us build real momentum to passing positive change in 
the wake of Aaron's death.
Thanks,
Demand Progress
Paid for by Demand Progress (DemandProgress.org 
<http://demandprogress.org/?akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy>) and not 
authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are 
not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.


*One last thing -- Demand Progress's small, dedicated, under-paid staff 
relies on the generosity of members like you to support our work. Will 
you click here to chip in $5 or $10? 
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=info@demandprogress.org&lc=US&item_name=Donate%20to%20Demand%20Progress&no_note=1&no_shipping=1&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted> 
Or you can become a Demand Progress monthly sustainer by clicking here. 
<http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/dp_sustainer/?recurring=1&akid=2096.1649461.mZjxpy> 
Thank you!*





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