A website isn't a person and the law doesn't expect them to act as such. It's a tool. Making a 'request' to a web server is more like turning the knob on a door: maybe the owner installed a lock, or maybe it just opens without there being a lock. But even if there isn't a lock, the law doesn't absolve you of trespassing against the door's owner just because the door itself didn't have the sentience to refuse your request.
But it's a door handle that is MEANT to be turned by the public at large. It's like putting a big "Order Inside" sign above the door to a restaurant and being surprised when people try to gain entry.
You also never entered the server. The server got your request and served something back you to. You did not go inside the house and read the contents of a book on the shelf, it was read aloud to you while you are still outside the house.
I'm not saying that websites shouldn't have recourse against people taking all the contents of their sites, just that the CFAA is the wrong tool.
>But it's a door handle that is MEANT to be turned by the public at large.
No it isn't. That's the crux of the case.
>It's like putting a big "Order Inside" sign above the door to a restaurant and being surprised when people try to gain entry.
It's like putting a big "order inside" sign above the door to a restaurant, and then also having a separate door in the back of the restaurant that clearly is used only by employees to go to the back office, and not being happy when non-employees keep trying to walk into the back office claiming "well there's a sign outside...".
>You also never entered the server. The server got your request and served something back you to. You did not go inside the house and read the contents of a book on the shelf, it was read aloud to you while you are still outside the house.
According to the courts, you did 'go inside the house' because the electronic signals that you sent to the server as part of the request are enough to constitute the 'physical contact' part of trespassing.
Again, trespassing isn't just about you physically having your body on someone else's property. It also can be your interaction with someone else's property (which can be land, or a door, or web servers) through the use of tools or intermediaries.
> You also never entered the server. The server got your request and served something back you to. You did not go inside the house and read the contents of a book on the shelf, it was read aloud to you while you are still outside the house.
By this reasoning it's impossible ever to hack anything. Even breaking password controls or cryptography is still just sending the server a request and getting something served back.
