What Is Aaron's Law?

A bill that would make it to prosecute people who hack into computer networks—and make the maximum penalty longer—is moving through Congress, but it's not going over so well with everyone. The bill is called Aaron's Law, and it's named after Aaron Swartz, a respected political activist, computer programmer and entrepreneur who died at age 26 in 2013. Swartz was facing up to 35 years in prison for allegedly stealing millions of academic papers from an MIT server using a program he wrote to download them automatically. He had written about his intentions on his blog: "There is no justice in following unjust laws," he wrote. It's time we fought back. " The House will vote on a bill called Aaron's Law, which would amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and wire fraud statute. If passed, it would be a significant win for internet freedom advocates. Aaron Swartz was charged with 13 felony wire fraud and hacking charges based on these laws after downloading millions of academic papers from an MIT server. He could have served up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif. ) introduced the bill in 2014 and has continued to push for its passage. Her proposal would change the CFAA to prevent prosecutors from using the law against people like Swartz, who acted out of "good faith" or did not intend to cause harm. On January 16th, Rep. Zoe Lofgren—one of the original 'Computer Fraud and Abuse Act authors—explained on Reddit that the charges against Aaron Swartz were due mainly to the sweeping and generalized language of the CFAA, according to Rep.Lofgren, if taken out of context or unclarified, this statute could criminalize several "everyday" activities, allowing for severely enforceable penalties. In her post, Rep. Lofgren also explained that she had proposed an amendment to this law as early as 2011 to clarify what is and isn't illegal under its terms (and thus prevent further wrongful prosecutions). She says: "We need to update our laws so they can be applied appropriately.