The 3 Most Absurdly Outdated Internet Laws | Mother Jones | Hacker News Reader

The 3 Most Absurdly Outdated Internet Laws | Mother Jones

motherjones.com

33 pointsghosh7 comments

  > internet activist Aaron Swartz, who was threatened with 35 years in
  > prison under the CFAA for allegedly stealing mass amounts of
  > academic articles

Using the word "stealing" at this point is not only wrong, but destroys the very point he was trying to make...

What was wrong with the word "stealing" in this context?

Copying != stealing. If I steal something from you, you don't have it any more. If I copy something you have, we both have a copy.

Also, even if one were to accept copying as stealing, it wouldn't work in this context since Aaron Swartz had legitimate access to JSTOR through Harvard.

Well, it's prefaced by "allegedly".

I don't think those are absurd laws. It will actually protect people from all negativity on the online world.

By "people" you mean US citizen. Non US citizen are not subject to any legitimate legal protection. We are considered like animals or even less.

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