ACLU files a lawsuit to repeal the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, used to prosecute Aaron Swartz

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I think the word you want here is “repeal” :slight_smile:

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Yeah, might wanna fix the title from “repeat” to “repeal”. Read that title 3 times before i figured it was a mistake :stuck_out_tongue:

No, the ACLU is going to repeat the law because they failed it the first time around.

Eh, sounds kinda thin to me. Weren’t a bunch of those NSA surveillance lawsuits thrown out because the plaintiffs had no evidence they were actually being surveilled? Seems like this would be thrown out on similar grounds, that the plaintiffs haven’t actually been harmed by the CFAA yet.

The standing question is different; when there are criminal penalties, you don’t need to have a threat to sue for relief. In the NSA cases, the plaintiffs claimed that their 1A rights were being violated and this chilled their speech; in this case, the plaintiffs are saying, “Our constitutionally valid conduct will potentially subject us to prison sentences, we want a court to adjudicate the constitutionality of the statute before we face charges.”

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Yes, and it is worth noting that the last time the ACLU filed an aggressive suit against a law relevant to Internet speech like this, they took it to the Supreme Court and won.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-511.ZS.html

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