The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), as currently written, criminalizes anyone who uses a computer — including breaking the terms of service of a website — in an “unauthorized” manner. It’s the law under which Aaron Swartz was (and many others have been) notoriously prosecuted. Swartz used a computer in an “unauthorized” manner to perform the digital equivalent of checking out too many library books.
On 29 June 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit (.pdf; 290KB) against the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The ACLU’s complaint alleges the CFAA legally threatens basic algorithmic research and is a violation of both the First Amendment and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Christian W. Sandvig, et. al. v. Loretta Lynch complaint as filed by the ACLU to the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
Russell Brandom writing for the Verge reports that basic algorithmic research such as that cited in the ACLU complaint is vital in surfacing hidden bias. “In April, a Bloomberg investigation of Amazon’s same-day delivery service found that the service was avoiding predominantly African-American zip codes,” he writes. “In May, a ProPublica investigation into a widely used sentencing-recommendation algorithm found that it systematically overestimated black defendants’ risk of repeat offenses.”