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fork the law

Fork the Law is an effort to bridge the gap between rapidly evolving technology and governing law. Our initiative is to take all necessary steps to move from where we are to where we must coalesce, from drafting new legislation, to educating Congress and the People about the issues we face as a nation, to promoting passage of new laws that continue our forward progress.

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Why should you care?

Tech laws are obsolete

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was originally passed in 1986, and was last significantly revised in 1996. That's before the Internet became part of the fabric of everyday life and work — and the state of the law reflects it. Under a strict interpretation of the CFAA, you could be prosecuted just for reading this website. Our networked society can't bear up much longer under the burden of laws that don't rely upon the fundamental tenets that underpin it.

Our elected representatives are not going to fix them

Lawmakers' fear of technology is a result of an inability to keep up; thus we repress what we don't understand. Historically, that has resulted in the demonization of creative thinkers, and has stalled the progression of civilization. We as a whole should, in fact we must move past that now; if others refuse to come along, we will move ahead without them. We need to help our lawmakers understand and keep up with the technology we all have come to depend upon.

That's where we come in

Right now, we stand at a crossroads. With information security as an ever more important facet of both national security and the gross national product, the United States and its most ingenious technology innovators must work hand in hand, not at cross purposes. The first step we suggest the United States Government take in this direction is to listen to its homegrown experts — people like us, from our elders who brought the Internet to life to our youngest budding developers. Law is logic, and logic is our stock in trade. Armed with that, together we can crowdsource revisions to the CFAA and other laws, help our elected representatives understand the impact of proposed changes to technology law, and produce change that really matters.