The DMCA provides a mechanism for the government to define some activities that do not violate the DMCA--essentially, a whitelist of activities. It's done by the Librarian of Congress and the exceptions last 3 years. This is how jailbreaking became clearly legal.
It provides certainty for activities that, under the law, are arguably legal--but making the argument in court would be very expensive and time-consuming.
What if a similar process was instituted for the CFAA? This would take some of the reins out of the hands of self-interested parties like Facebook, and provide certainty for people who are operating in good faith in the public interest.
An example of this would be to say that it is legal for a person to use automated tools to observe their own authentic interactions with hosted software, and it is legal for other people to make such tools available to the public. That would cover Gizmodo's tool, I think.
It provides certainty for activities that, under the law, are arguably legal--but making the argument in court would be very expensive and time-consuming.
What if a similar process was instituted for the CFAA? This would take some of the reins out of the hands of self-interested parties like Facebook, and provide certainty for people who are operating in good faith in the public interest.
An example of this would be to say that it is legal for a person to use automated tools to observe their own authentic interactions with hosted software, and it is legal for other people to make such tools available to the public. That would cover Gizmodo's tool, I think.