Demand Progress, the activist group founded by the late
Aaron Swartz, is using the Internet activist's suicide last week as a rallying
point for legislation that would decriminalize violations of ISP's and others'
terms of service policies.
Swartz was being prosecuted for illegally downloading
content from MIT, which was being cited by his friends and family as a factor
in his death.
In
a letter, Demand Progress and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, who worked
with Swartz to oppose SOPA and PIPA antipiracy legislation, asked supporters to
urge Congress to pass Aaron's Law, which is being introduced by Zoe Lofgren
(D-Calif.), which would put disputes over terms of service agreements in civil
courts rather than criminal ones.
"As currently written, Aaron's Law alone wouldn't have
saved Aaron," said Demand Progress director David Segal. "[T]here is
still more to do to make sure that victimless computer activities are not
charged as felonies -- but this is a solid start that we can pass now and it's
a law he wanted to change. And then we'll keep pushing."
