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Ninth Circuit CFAA Case May Draw High Court Review

In <i>United States v. Nosal</i>, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, <i>en banc</i>, held that the prohibition against "exceed[ing] authorized access" to a computer under the CFAA does not apply when an employee has been granted access to the company computer infrastructure but uses that access, against company policy and the obvious interests of the company, to copy valuable, confidential information in order to take business from the company. For various reasons, articulated well in the dissent by Judge Barry Silverman (joined by only one other judge), the Ninth Circuit is wrong.

31 minute read May 31, 2012 at 11:11 AM
By
Leonard Deutchman
Ninth Circuit CFAA Case May Draw High Court Review

In United States v. Nosal, No. 10-10038, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 7151(9th Cir. Apr. 10, 2012), http://1.usa.gov/J8AJZC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,

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