Its almost impossible to use the internet daily and not commit a crime, Why you might ask? Because of an out dated law that was put in place in 1986 called The Computer Fraud and Abuse act. This Act was inspired by congress over the movie War Games, in which a teenager was able to use a telephone connection to dial in and launch nuclear warheads. Which is not even remotely possible. This movie scared congress enough to pass the original Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Everyone has seen the TOS (Terms of Service) on websites, but no one ever reads them, well violating a TOS agreement is actually a felony under the Federal Government. So say for instance you create a Facebook Profile and you lie about something, well technically even thou its ridiculously that is considered a felony under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and can lead to prison time. There can be some really crazy stipulations in Terms of Service agreements, one example that has since been changed was on the website on Seventeen, in the TOS it stated that you had to be 18 to read the content. How does that make any sense.
Has this law ever been enforce? Yes, the Federal Government has used and abused this law to prosecute people. A well known person by the name of Aaron Swartz (creator/founder of Reddit) was a victim of The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. After he got involved to stop SOAPA and was successful the US Government used this law to load him up on felony charges, In total he faced over 13 federal felony's. Not all of them were related to The Computer Fraud and Abuse act, but they used it to leverage a heavier prison sentence on him. Aaron Swartz was a person who firmly believed in the freedom of free information and Big corporations and Government did not like it one bit. He later committed suicide due to all the pressure, federal charges and fines he was paying.
So it might not be a bad idea to read that boring TOS agreement before you decide to sign up for a website or service, it could come back to bite you HARD in the future.
