Questions involving the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is frequently cited in hacking questions. A similar law in the U.K. is the computer-misuse-act.
Questions tagged [cfaa]
21 questions
38
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5 answers
Is ban evasion illegal?
What is the legality of "Ban Evasions"? This sounds like a dumb question but perhaps enlighten the ignorant.
Ban Evasion, "The creation of a new account on a platform or website after being previously banned for ToS violations".
In 2018, the 9th…
nolsen
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14
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2 answers
How do laws against computer intrusion handle the modern situation of devices routinely being under the de facto control of non-owners?
Current versions of Microsoft Windows will automatically update themselves.
That's usually great, but they also are designed to update themselves even if the owner of the device wants them to not do that. I could send them a certified letter…
interfect
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14
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Could it be illegal to intentionally "poison" AI crawling?
There is a youtube about generating images with features designed to "poison" generative AI trained on those images.
This technique could potentially be used by anyone who was worried about their content being harvested by AI's. On any website…
User65535
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How does Aaron Swartz's mass download from JSTOR constitute hacking?
I might be a bit late on this but I just got to know the story of Aaron Swartz, a phenomenal guy to say the least.
The internet is filled with news posts, blogs, and even documentaries stating that "he hacked JSTOR" and downloaded gigabytes of…
Jecht Tyre
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1 answer
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act equivalent for citizens
What equivalent do ordinary US citizens have in terms of digital protectionss, as the US government and its financial interests have as defined in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act?
Justin
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3
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Legal status of Cellebrite hack
The CEO of Signal has posted the discovery of security vulnerabilities in Cellebrite products. These products are used by police to evade security on seized mobile devices and thereby download the contents for forensic examination. More details…
Paul Johnson
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In the CFAA, what exactly do "Intentionally accessed a protected computer without authorization" and "exceeding authorization" mean?
I originally looked at this for web scraping, but upon reading it more, it seems like it could be interpreted to include all types of common mistakes.
Does this even include something like a customer who entered his/her personal credentials issued…
2
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2 answers
What are some laws related to break into others (scammers) computers?
On Youtube, We can find videos of some tech guys controlling others (scammers) computers without permission.
Not sure how they did it, and this is not a question about how do they know which computers to break into when they are communicating on the…
new
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Is downloading YouTube videos legal for personal use?
Hypothetical: I am learning a language at the moment and have found certain playlists very useful. I want to have them on the go and have written an application to download and manage downloaded videos, strictly for personal use.
Could I get in any…
nagrom97
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Is it illegal (under US law) to "manually" mass download from JSTOR?
Say I wish to determine the frequency of the use of the word "apple" in academic articles. And so I want to get as many academic articles as possible for analysis.
I have access (through my university) to JSTOR. Using my personal computer and my…
user43
1
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Could there be a legal risk in a captcha defeat browser plugin?
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, or captcha's, have become more common recently, in particular from cloudflare. If one used or distributed a browser plugin that solved the captcha automatically could one…
User65535
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Is it a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to use my work computer to browse Facebook?
My employer recently sent out an email stating work computers being used for personal activities such as browsing social media will be considered unauthorized access and that any past, present, or future incidents are now being investigated by IT…
MauriceC
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0
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Are javascript keyloggers on websites legal?
I believe that if one delivers a keylogger by say email and use it to extract data entered into text boxes without the users knowledge or consent on a web site then that is illegal. If the same is done with javascript deployed on the web site is…
User65535
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Is it illegal to modify url data?
Say i did something like https://SomeSite.com/variableThing=**MyValue**
instead of https://SomeSite.com/variableThing=**DefaultValue**
Can I be held accountable for any errors that the variable generates on the server end.
The servers are probably…
Dave
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Is it illegal to create code that causes damage to a computer system?
I'm reading about the Computer Abuse Amendments Act of 1994 and I just read: 'it is illegal to create any type of malicious code that might cause damage to a computer system.' Can someone clarify this for me?
When they say damage do they mean…
Jrobm2k9
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