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Re:You commit three felonies a day by einhverfr on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @05:25AM (#5860641)
Silverglate talks about a number of cases, some of which have been addressed either before the book was written or after, but the overall problem is still out there.

For example, see the honest services fraud charges against Jeff Skilling (of Enron fame), on the idea that anything dishonest any corporate executive might do would be depriving the corporation of honest services. Now the Supreme Court reversed Skilling's conviction on the grounds that this was just too vague and that honest services fraud was limited to kickback schemes and the like.

However consider many more:

Lori Drew was prosecuted for unauthorized access to computer servers for violating the terms of service of MySpace (iirc). The subsequent directed verdict of acquittal (after the jury convicted) however did not really eliminate the possibility of ToS violations turning into federal felonies. This was not covered in the book but it is worth noting.

Many of the examples in the books are profession-related. Silverglate goes into detail on the Hurwitz narcotics case where a doctor who operated in line with emerging best practices for chronic pain management was tried and convicted of drug trafficking on the grounds that he had statistical knowledge of the likelihood that at patients might resell the drugs on the street. Hurwitz's conviction was later vacated, but they tried him and convicted him again of a smaller set of charges.

He goes also into medical billing disputes (I have family members who have been on the losing side of these regarding the government and can attest that these are still significant issues).

Another case he does not cover is the Joe Naccio case (covered in the link).

Another case he does not cover was that of my mother's uncle, who they accused of purjury for claiming never to have been a Communist, when their evidence of his lying was that he was legally representing the Communist Party USA and others as a lawyer. They lost that case but came back one tax issue after another until they found something to stick.

There are cases after cases to those of us who follow these things. It is a systemic problem.

Keep in mind that under some of these theories of law, checking Hacker News from work when you should be working is a federal felony, and if not honest services fraud, certainly something they could try you with for wire fraud (it is financial in that you are billing your employer for your time!). Moreover if you check a site for non-work purposes which has a note in the ToS which says that unlawful use is prohibited, then you have committed felony computer trespass (because you "accessed" their servers in excess of authorization provided by the ToS in pursuit of criminal or tortuous ends).

TL;DR: What felonies you commit are unimportant. If they want to, they will find something.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by Kiro on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @06:40AM (#5860842)
No, I want to know what felonies I commit.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by bmelton on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @09:35AM (#5861626)
You're probably guilty of having violated the Lacey Act (16 USC §3370-3378) at some point in your life.

    It is unlawful for any person to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, 
    possess, or purchase any fish, wildlife, or plant taken, possessed, transported, or 
    sold in violation of any Federal, State, foreign, or Indian tribal law, treaty, or 
    regulation.
What's interesting is that, under the Lacey Act, if possession of a given substance is illegal anywhere (even in another country whose laws we do not respect), then you are guilty of it. For example, if you've ever held a piece of ivory, and ivory harvesting is illegal in Madagascar, then you have violated the Lacey Act. If you've ever eaten a small lobster that was perfectly legal where you ate it, but would have violated fishing code in Maine for being too small, you've violated the Lacey Act.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by tptacek on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @10:19AM (#5861878)
Not being a strict liability crime, violations of the Lacey act would need to be committed knowingly.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by grecy on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @02:18PM (#5863692)
I would have to think that anyone wearing clothes made from an exotic or endangered animal knows they are breaking the law from some other country...
Re:You commit three felonies a day by bmelton on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @10:25AM (#5861910)
Rereading it now, I see that you are correct. For some reason or another, I originally read it to mean that only the civil forfeiture provisions were strict liability.

Thank you for the correction.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by einhverfr on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:00AM (#5860898)
So do I. But the point is that these felonies are largely a product of trying to stretch other laws to cover behavior none of us would consider illegal.

However, the big one I would look at in current times for most people is violating web site terms of service.

My point is that the mentality is "Show me the man and I'll find you the crime."

Re:You commit three felonies a day by arethuza on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:15AM (#5860942)
I thought I recognised that quote - it's from Lavrentiy Beria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria

Re:You commit three felonies a day by ownagefool on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:25AM (#5860976)
Part of the point is you aren't supposed to know, otherwise you'll be able to stop doing them and the authorities will lose their potential future leverage.

Another way to look at it is you aren't, but should you come to the right peoples attention, they'll figure out how to bend the rules enough so that you are.

No way of really knowing until laws are rolled back, simplified, and followed both from within the confines of the letter of the law and the spirit thereof.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by einhverfr on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:45AM (#5861048)
Almost. They aren't discrete things. They need to be laws that can be stretched to include everyone. That way it doesn't actually matter what you do.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by pak on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @10:55AM (#5862104)
The CFAA is probably a good place to start, since its concept of a "protected computer" essentially covers every computer on the internet, and its definition of authorized/unauthorized access is quite vague, and so left open to interpretation through case law. And there haven't been so many cases, so the precedent on many things is unclear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act

Try (a)(2)(C) on for size. If you have a jailbroken phone, its manufacturer might claim that you have unauthorized access to information on a protected computer, even if you are its owner (that's exactly what Sony argued against George Hotz, and they settled out of court, so we'll never know what the courts would have said about that argument). If you have any computer in your house that you modified in a way the manufacturer did not authorize, similar arguments may apply.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by alan_cx on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:30AM (#5860989)
How can that be answered? No one here follows and monitors you 24/7.

However, your luck is in. Now you can just ask the NSA...

Re:You commit three felonies a day by njharman on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @12:39PM (#5862940)
Without knowing what you do, it's impossible to say. Did you have sex before the age of 18? You've committed statutory rape. You've probably violated copyright many times. You've probably violated the computer access law many times (forget name but violate a eula/TOS and you are in violation). Ever sell anything or make any money (say a bet between friends) and not report it on your tax return?
Re:You commit three felonies a day by ccera on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @02:44PM (#5863864)
The book's ridiculous claim is that you commit three felonies per day? So to rephrase your question, you should have asked "how many times per day do you travel back in time to commit statutory rape?"

Your examples aren't very strong anyway.

Having sex before the age of 18 is usually not statutory rape, if the person you're having sex with is also under 18.

Very few copyright violations meet the standard for criminal charges. Casual copyright violation is not a felony.

You don't have to report anything on your tax return when you sell personal items for less than you originally paid for them. And not all tax code violations are felonies anyway.

Etc.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by chiph on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @08:43AM (#5861302)
You're here talking about it, so... conspiracy is one.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by gohrt on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @12:13PM (#5862709)
Conspiracy requires at least one act in furtherance of the goal of the conspiracy, not just talk.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by chiph on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @12:56PM (#5863062)
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure if any member of a conspiracy commits an act, then everyone in it can be held liable.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by taoufix on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:47AM (#5861055)
Maybe one of these:

* Illegal downloads.

* Forwarding a corporate email.

* Some weird term of service in one of the dozen "I read and accept these terms" check-boxes you clicked.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by tptacek on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @10:20AM (#5861883)
How would "forwarding a corporate email" be charged as a felony?
Re:You commit three felonies a day by guizzy on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @03:27PM (#5864163)
Breaking TOS is not a felony or even criminal; it's at best a civil court case.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by gohrt on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @12:16PM (#5862732)
Downloads are not illegals. Copyright-protected uploads are illegal.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by Spooky23 on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @12:48PM (#5863003)
The somewhat dramatic "three felonies a day" mostly boil down to some variant of "Honest Services Fraud". Commonly cited examples include calling in sick without being sick

It's also very easy to trivially commit wire fraud.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by einhverfr on Thursday June 13, 2013 @12:41AM (#5872350)
Indeed, if you check facebook when you claim to be sick and you are not sick, you are billing your employer, so calling in sick is wire fraud and checking facebook (if their ToS bans use for unlawful purposes) is unauthroized access to a protected computer system in furtherance of another crime (and therefore a felony).

Two felonies there.

Re:You commit three felonies a day by dean on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @10:37AM (#5861992)
The reproduction or the distribution of copyright material is a felony.

(Who knows, the MPAA and RIAA might be up on Capitol Hill as we speak begging for access to this data.)

Re:You commit three felonies a day by genwin on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @11:01AM (#5862139)
If your state has sales tax and you've bought stuff online without paying sales tax, check your state's law on that.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by youngerdryas on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @07:03AM (#5860907)
Blog spam?
Re:You commit three felonies a day by coldtea on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @08:04AM (#5861136)
Then ask a fucking lawyer.
Re:You commit three felonies a day by rayiner on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @09:15AM (#5861488)
So the argument is all handwavy bullshit?