Dear CITAMS colleagues, Last month I joined other Internet researchers and the ACLU to file a lawsuit against the US Government to protect the legal right to conduct online research. It was CITAMS person Philip Howard who called the lawsuit "key to the future of social science" ( https://twitter.com/pnhoward/status/748314836568707072). I thought this would be of interest to CITAMS. I mistakenly thought that I sent my initial message about the suit to the CITAMS list last month, but it looks like it I just imagined doing that. I've attached the AoIR version of the announcement of the lawsuit from last month with some links. This is newly relevant today because a community of devs interested in public policy started a petition in support of our court case. It is very sweet of them to make this petition. If you agree, you may want to sign it. http://slashpolicy.com/petition/curiosity-is-not-a-crime/ Read below for more context. Best, Christian ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Christian Sandvig <christian.sandvig@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2016 at 3:25 PM Subject: lawsuit on behalf of researchers who study the Internet To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Dear AIR colleagues, On Wednesday I joined other Internet researchers and filed a lawsuit against the US Government to protect the legal right to conduct online research. The case was just called "key to the future of social science." I thought this issue might be of interest to some of you. If so, please feel free to read and share the details below. Note that I filed this lawsuit as a private citizen and it does not involve my university. Yours sincerely, Christian -- http://www.niftyc.org Why I am Suing the Government (or: I write scripts, bots, and scrapers that collect online data) https://socialmediacollective.org/2016/07/01/why-i-am-suing-the-government/ Most of What You Do Online Is Illegal. Let's End the Absurdity. by Christian Sandvig and Karrie Karahalios *The Guardian *(Op-Ed) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/30/cfaa-online-law-illegal-discrimination Legal Complaint: Sandvig v. Lynch https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/sandvig-v-lynch-complaint Researchers Sue The Government Over Computer Hacking Law https://www.wired.com/2016/06/researchers-sue-government-computer-hacking-law/ When Should Hacking Be Legal? A Group of Academics and Journalists Say a Federal Computer-Fraud Law Criminalizes Their Work http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/07/when-should-hacking-be-legal/489785/