In 1984, Congress passed a law called the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, in the wake of some
high profile incidents of hacking. Designed to prosecute hackers, the law is written vaguely enough that it has, in recent years, been used (with varying degrees of success) to
prosecute people violating terms of an employer's computer usage policies, or in the infamous case of
Lori Drew, a Terms of Service agreement.
But today, the 9th circuit court of appeals ruled that employees can not be prosecuted under the CFAA for violating an employer's computer use policies, dealing a blow to the Obama administration’s Justice Department,
which is trying to use the same theory to prosecute alleged WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning.
posted by to sir with millipedes
on Apr 10, 2012 -
29 comments
