As an attorney I would like to give a quick two cents about the idea it is illegal, or volatile of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, to simply violate the terms of a websites terms and conditions or privacy policy. For example, if anyone remembers the Mom who created a fake MySpace profile spoofing her daughters friend, who ultimately committed suicide. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier . If this women was acquitted who clearly violated MySpaces terms and conditions which possibly contributed to the suicide of a minor, then this charge does not have much bite to it.
Nevertheless a law such as this would prevent prosecutors with ice in their veins from charging who ever the hell they want, because lets face it we all somehow or someway are violating a terms of service. As a lawyer I can say with comfort that the law is catching up to technology, but generally an existing law is expanded into technology, what is crazy here is that there is no equivalent pre-existing law to support this kind of criminal charge. In other words, imagine you violating any non-tech terms of service and it being a federal crime, for example it would be crazy to imagine paying your credit card late or returning a movie late (as if Blockbuster still exists) puts you in violation of criminal law. The closest example I can think of is lying on a mortgage application which constitutes fraud under federal law but that is obviously distinguishable, and at least a mortgage application will tell you lying is fraud I have never seen such a disclaimer on any websites terms of service (but who reads those anyway?).
Nevertheless a law such as this would prevent prosecutors with ice in their veins from charging who ever the hell they want, because lets face it we all somehow or someway are violating a terms of service. As a lawyer I can say with comfort that the law is catching up to technology, but generally an existing law is expanded into technology, what is crazy here is that there is no equivalent pre-existing law to support this kind of criminal charge. In other words, imagine you violating any non-tech terms of service and it being a federal crime, for example it would be crazy to imagine paying your credit card late or returning a movie late (as if Blockbuster still exists) puts you in violation of criminal law. The closest example I can think of is lying on a mortgage application which constitutes fraud under federal law but that is obviously distinguishable, and at least a mortgage application will tell you lying is fraud I have never seen such a disclaimer on any websites terms of service (but who reads those anyway?).