title: police investigate fraud after voter registration flips from republican to democrat
text: justice department releases guidelines on controversial antihacking law there have been several unsuccessful attempts to reform the law in recent years image credits flickr skippy  
  to many who conduct work or research related to digital security the legislation meant to protect against computer crimes has morphed into something harmful the  law the us computer fraud and abuse act has been repeatedly described as vague and ineffectual  allowing overzealous prosecutors to saddle hacktivists and lowlevel criminals with excessive sentences 
  now thanks to a legal challenge to the cfaa the department of justice is for the first time releasing its  guidelines on how prosecutors should charge computer crimes  when someone exceeds authorized access on a computer first look media the publisher of the intercept is a plaintiff in the case 
  the department of justice acknowledges that laws addressing the misuse of computers have not kept pace uniformly with developments in technology and criminal schemes though it maintains that the law remains important in prosecuting cybercrimes 
  some of the prosecutions under the cfaa have proved controversial aaron swartz a wellknown internet activist who downloaded academic journals en masse faced years of grueling legal trials under the cfaa before he committed suicide and andrew auernheimer was found guilty of conspiracy to violate the cfaa by uncovering att customer data exposed on the company website