Tech journalists troubled by Assange computer intrusion charge

Yet technology journalists and legal experts interviewed by CPJ since the charge was first publicized in April shared significant concerns about the law, and their growing fear that it could be used to implicate journalists in the criminal activities of their sources. “The Assange indictment raises concerns that when a source provides digital information to a reporter that they were not authorized to release, prosecutors will look for anything that can be presented as ‘assistance’ to that source as a basis for prosecuting or threatening reporters as co-conspirators under the CFAA,” Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told CPJ. One question the indictment raised, Poulsen told CPJ, was under what circumstances prosecutors might accuse journalists who regularly talk to hackers of conspiracy to violate the CFAA.

Source: cpj.org