Aaron Swartz, founder of Reddit (PC World)

The bill is intended to modify the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in an attempt to exclude terms of service violations. It is under the belief that Swartz took his life after the numerous charges because of such a violation, and the new law (dubbed “Aaron’s Law”) would try to prevent such an act from happening again.

From the Hill:  

“Swartz, a co-creator of Reddit, was accused of stealing academic articles from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and faced federal hacking charges from the Justice Department. 

He faced up to 35 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. Swartz's family blamed the prosecutors' aggressive charges for contributing to his death.”

In the Reddit post, Lofgren commented that “His family’s statement about this speaks volumes about the inappropriate efforts undertaken by the U.S. government. There’s no way to reverse the tragedy of Aaron’s death, but we can work to prevent a repeat of the abuses of power he experienced.”

According to Lofgren and several supporters in the Reddit post, the original bill of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the wire fraud statute are currently too broad and allow a “hook for government bullying.” Time will tell if the bill passes and what the revised bill on Computer Fraud and Abuse will eventually look like.

The draft copy for the bill is posted here and the petition can be found here. 

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.