Supreme Court Narrows Scope of U.S. Computer-Hacking LawBy Greg Stohr
June 3, 2021, 10:07 AM EDT Updated on June 3, 2021, 10:43 AM EDT
The U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the reach of a federal computer-hacking law, overturning the conviction of a Georgia police sergeant who sold information from a confidential law-enforcement database to an FBI informant.
The justices, voting 6-3, said the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act doesn’t apply when an authorized user of a database uses the information for an unauthorized purpose. The ruling is a victory for Nathan Van Buren, a former police sergeant in Cumming, Georgia, who had been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Writing for the court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected an interpretation that had been pressed by former President Donald Trump’s administration, saying its approach would have turned millions of law-abiding citizens into criminals for violating computer-use policies.
“The government’s interpretation of the statute would attach criminal penalties to a breathtaking amount of commonplace computer activity,” Barrett wrote. ...
Bloomberg