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Let's Make Everyone a Criminal

July 7, 2010 11:19:29.183

TechDirt points out the absurdity of making it a criminal offence to not read a site's terms of service - this is in regard to ticket scalping/reselling:

This isn't to say that ticket scalpers and resellers who buy up all the tickets aren't necessarily a problem, but should they be criminally liable because they violate a website's terms of service?

While the following example is absurd, it's a good example of just how bad this is:

I could just quickly put up a terms of service that says something as ridiculous as "you must be 8 feet tall to read this website." And, if you're not, you've then violated the terms, and are guilty of criminal hacking under the CFAA -- which could potentially result in jail time.

That's just awesome. It also means that just about every person in the US who has ever visited a website that has TOS is an unindicted criminal...

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posted by James Robertson

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