Six Years Later and Worse Than Ever - The Espionage Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and What's at Stake for Activists, Journalists, and Researchers

Presented at A New HOPE (2022), July 22, 2022, 3 p.m. (50 minutes).

The Trump administration continued the trend of using two antiquated laws - the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 - as tools to restrict the public's right to know. Trump's Justice Department sent numerous truth-tellers to prison, and in 2019 charged Julian Assange, who is neither a government employee nor a U.S. citizen, under both laws. The current legal landscape has unprecedented implications for national security journalism, transparency, and the use of anonymity and source protection tools. Join two human rights attorneys who have worked closely on issues surrounding these laws for a conversation on what's at stake for activists, journalists, and researchers; the recent traction in Congress for reforming both laws; and the necessity for doing so.


Presenters:

  • Jesselyn Radack
    **Jesselyn Radack** (**@JesselynRadack**) is an award-winning human rights lawyer, author, former whistleblower, and national security and human rights director of the Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts. She has defended numerous journalists, whistleblowers, and hacktivists, including Thomas Drake, Edward Snowden, and Daniel Hale, and is author of *TRAITOR: The Whistleblower and the "American Taliban."*
  • Carey Shenkman
    **Carey Shenkman (@CareyShenkman)** is a human rights lawyer, litigator, and co-author of a forthcoming volume on the panoramic history of the Espionage Act and CFAA: *A Century of Repression: The Espionage Act and Freedom of the Press.* He serves on the board of the Calyx Institute, and has worked on numerous topics at the intersection of civil rights and technology, including blockchains, artificial intelligence, data brokers, and encryption.

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