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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

> and they are certainly allowed to violate T+Cs even when a violation of a T+C is a criminal act (which it is in many jurisdictions).

Is violating a T&C criminal in the US, if the violating action itself is not a crime? I have not heard of this. Are there any examples that can be linked to? I thought it was always a civil matter.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act

Yes it is a federal crime, but was recently limited by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Buren_v._United_States

The CFAA includes this. I am not sure it's possible for US government actors to violate the CFAA unless they're violating some other law also. It seems very unlikely Congress intended to make T&Cs binding on law enforcement or intelligence investigations.

"This section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law enforcement agency of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence agency of the United States."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030#

This is correct, although most US States have their own version of CFAA which aren't so limited and don't include any exceptions or exemptions, either.

Yes, for instance in Illinois there is a specific crime for violating terms of service:

720 ILCS 5/17-51(a-10)(1) Computer tampering

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=0...

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