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My understanding of the case law on this subject is that courts are extremely wary of letting terms of service violations rise to the level of federal crime. It

My understanding of the case law on this subject is that courts are extremely wary of letting terms of service violations rise to the level of federal crime. It essentially endows anyone with a domain name into an authority which can create federal law on demand.

dylan604 20d ago
Might be the only way to reign in the AI bots. By accessing my site with a bot, you agree to reimburse me for that data at the rate of $1,000,000 per character retrieved. Please contact licensing@domain to get set up with payment and access keys
- warkdarrior 20d ago
  And by linking to your site from other websites, by not requiring authenticated human-only login, and by not blocking traffic from all referrers, you agree to allow my bot to access you site at zero cost.
  - Tuna-Fish 20d ago
    I have clearly communicated the constraints of use on my site using robots.txt, which is the established standard for communicating things like these. You are expected to fetch it and figure it out. It is not necessary to build walls and lock doors when a no trespassing sign is clearly visible. Seriously, though, making robots.txt have the weight of law would be a massive improvement for the ecosystem in general.
    - dylan604 19d ago
      and what happens when the perpetrator does not reside where that law can reach?
jubilanti 20d ago
FYI: https://enwp.org/Van_Buren_v._United_States https://enwp.org/Van_Buren_v._United_States https://enwp.org/HiQ_Labs_v._LinkedIn https://enwp.org/HiQ_Labs_v._LinkedIn
- deleted 20d ago
  [deleted]
advisedwang 20d ago
Yes, although the DoJ policy change reflecting still says civil liability might exist if a cease-and-desist is ignored: https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/doj-acknowledges-limits-to-the-cfaa-but-questions-and-possible-civil-liability-remain-for-security-researchers-and-others.html https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/doj-acknowledges-limits-to-...
nonethewiser 20d ago
But didn’t Amazon cite laws that it broke (allegedly)? Not simply their ToS?
- Natsu 20d ago
  The CFAA makes it a federal offense to intentionally access a computer "without authorization" or "exceeding authorized access" so the sticky part is how far the site's ToS can go in defining what uses are authorized, lest it be a federal felony to use an ad blocker or whatever else might be forbidden in a ToS.
qingcharles 20d ago
Illinois makes it a state crime to violate terms of service. Sec. 17-51. Computer tampering. (a) A person commits computer tampering when he or she knowingly and without the authorization of a computer's owner or in excess of the authority granted to him or her: (1) Accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or any part thereof, a computer network, or a program or data; (2) Accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or any part thereof, a computer network, or a program or data, and obtains data or services; (a-10) For purposes of subsection (a), accessing a computer network is deemed to be with the authorization of a computer's owner if: (2) the owner authorizes the public to access the computer network and the person accessing the computer network complies with all terms or conditions for use of the computer network that are imposed by the owner;
- gruez 20d ago
  That's pretty similar wording to the CFAA, which OP mentioned has been checked by case law.

dylan604 20d ago

Might be the only way to reign in the AI bots. By accessing my site with a bot, you agree to reimburse me for that data at the rate of $1,000,000 per character retrieved. Please contact licensing@domain to get set up with payment and access keys

warkdarrior 20d ago
And by linking to your site from other websites, by not requiring authenticated human-only login, and by not blocking traffic from all referrers, you agree to allow my bot to access you site at zero cost.
- Tuna-Fish 20d ago
  I have clearly communicated the constraints of use on my site using robots.txt, which is the established standard for communicating things like these. You are expected to fetch it and figure it out. It is not necessary to build walls and lock doors when a no trespassing sign is clearly visible. Seriously, though, making robots.txt have the weight of law would be a massive improvement for the ecosystem in general.
  - dylan604 19d ago
    and what happens when the perpetrator does not reside where that law can reach?

jubilanti 20d ago

FYI: https://enwp.org/Van_Buren_v._United_States https://enwp.org/Van_Buren_v._United_States https://enwp.org/HiQ_Labs_v._LinkedIn https://enwp.org/HiQ_Labs_v._LinkedIn

deleted 20d ago
[deleted]

advisedwang 20d ago

Yes, although the DoJ policy change reflecting still says civil liability might exist if a cease-and-desist is ignored: https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/doj-acknowledges-limits-to-the-cfaa-but-questions-and-possible-civil-liability-remain-for-security-researchers-and-others.html https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/doj-acknowledges-limits-to-...

nonethewiser 20d ago

But didn’t Amazon cite laws that it broke (allegedly)? Not simply their ToS?

Natsu 20d ago
The CFAA makes it a federal offense to intentionally access a computer "without authorization" or "exceeding authorized access" so the sticky part is how far the site's ToS can go in defining what uses are authorized, lest it be a federal felony to use an ad blocker or whatever else might be forbidden in a ToS.

qingcharles 20d ago

Illinois makes it a state crime to violate terms of service. Sec. 17-51. Computer tampering. (a) A person commits computer tampering when he or she knowingly and without the authorization of a computer's owner or in excess of the authority granted to him or her: (1) Accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or any part thereof, a computer network, or a program or data; (2) Accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or any part thereof, a computer network, or a program or data, and obtains data or services; (a-10) For purposes of subsection (a), accessing a computer network is deemed to be with the authorization of a computer's owner if: (2) the owner authorizes the public to access the computer network and the person accessing the computer network complies with all terms or conditions for use of the computer network that are imposed by the owner;

gruez 20d ago
That's pretty similar wording to the CFAA, which OP mentioned has been checked by case law.