On June 3, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion in Van Buren v. United States, No. 19-783, resolving the circuit split regarding what it means to "exceed[] authorization" for purposes of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) 18 U.S.C. §1030 et seq.
SCOTUS Narrowly Interprets CFAA to Avoid Criminalizing 'Commonplace Computer Activity'
The Court held that only those who obtain information from particular areas of the computer which they are not authorized to access can be said to "exceed authorization," and the statute does not — as the government had argued — cover behavior where a person accesses information which he is authorized to access but does so for improper purposes.
By
Patricia Kim and Maren Messing
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