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Comment by tjoff | Hacker News Reader

I'd have always thought that the terms of service (that I haven't signed (checking a check box doesn't count)) couldn't just make something, that wasn't already, illegal.

If I don't behave to their liking they could of course cancel my account but that's pretty much it.

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>I'd have always thought that the terms of service (that I haven't signed (checking a check box doesn't count)) couldn't just make something, that wasn't already, illegal.

A United States District Court considered whether the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act criminalized TOS violations, and the court concluded that such a statute would be unconstitutional as applied in such a situation under the "void for vagueness" doctrine. U.S. v. Lori Drew, 259 F.R.D. 449 (C.D. Cal. 2009).

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 has been stretched such that federal prosecutors have won convictions based on the theory that violating a website’s ‘terms of service’ is a crime under this law. However, eventually it was deemed that this may be too broad a standard, but no clear decision has been made.

Someone suggested to me earlier that it might be possible to call it unauthorised access, which is a crime under that act.

However as you would voluntarily give up the key that becomes complicated; a court would have to decide that you were given no choice (give up the password, or give up the job).

The question then becomes, are you an accessory to a federal crime by enabling someone to gain unauthorized access to a computer system?

No; in much the same way as if the Russian Mafia held you at gun point to hand over the password :)

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