Category Archives: Articles

While the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) permits seven causes of action to be brought by individuals or companies who have been victims of violations of the statute, practitioners lose sight of the fact that the CFAA is at its core a criminal statute. Nyack Hospital v. Moran, 2010 WL 4118355 (S.D.N.Y. June 1, 2010) neatly illustrates the importance of being able to prove the criminal elements of the statute in order to obtain a civil remedy – damages or injunctive relief. The defendant, Kevin Moran, had been employed by Nyack Hospital as its Manager of Organizational Development. … [ Continue reading → ]

The college student David C. Kernell who was convicted by a Chattanooga, Tennessee jury of various federal crimes including a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) for accessing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account will be sentenced on October 29, 2010. What Kernell did was to decipher the password for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account and distribute her emails over the Internet during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Kernell moved post-verdict pursuant to Rule 29, Fed.R.Cr.P. for a judgment of acquittal on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. The trial … [ Continue reading → ]

LimeWire sounds innocent enough – a file sharing program that allows individual users to download music over the Internet, video and other files directly from the hard drive of another LimeWire user. LimeWire and other similar software, described as peer-to- peer software, is a popular way to avoid paying for music and movies. There is, however, a catch. These free downloads pose enormous risks. An anonymous LimeWire user who can download a song or a movie from your computer can also download your highly sensitive personal information that can be used to steal your identity and, in turn, your bank … [ Continue reading → ]

In the past six months approximately 6 class action lawsuits have been filed in Los Angeles federal district court against various companies for, among other things, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), Title 18 U.S. C. § 1030, based on advertising technology that tracks a computer’s web surfing practices. Unlike traditional cookies, the type of technology alleged in these complaints supposedly cannot be deleted from a computer. The corporate defendants in these cases, including CNN, Fox News, News Corp. and the Wall Street Journal, are certain to be checking whether their insurance policies cover the attorney’s costs … [ Continue reading → ]

Ever worry that what you do on a social networking site could be used against you in a court of law? While no one is recommending that Facebook provide users with its own version of the Miranda rights, two Bar Associations have recently considered this issue in the context of lawyers using information from social networking sites to gather impeachment material to use against witnesses in civil lawsuits. On September 10, 2010, the New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, followed the March 2009 opinion of the Philadelphia Professional Guidance Committee in ruling that it is improper for … [ Continue reading → ]

By: Jamie N. Nafziger Dorsey & Whitney, Partner. Those familiar with Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla and other location-based social networking sites will not be surprised that Facebook has jumped into the fray and recently launched several geolocation-related services. This article includes recommendations on how brand owners can protect their brands in connection with these new services. 1. Facebook Places 
Facebook Places launched in August 2010 and provides a place for users to “check-in” at a physical location from their iPhone (similar functionality for Android and Blackberry devices is in the works). They can also check-in their friends (if their friends do … [ Continue reading → ]

A critical element in proving either a civil or criminal violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), the federal computer crime statute, is that the defendant act with criminal intent as opposed to mistake or negligence. In discussing the breadth of computers covered by the CFAA the Eight Circuit emphasized the importance of this critical element of intent: “[w]hat protects people who accidentally erase songs on an iPod, trip over (and thus disable) a wireless base station, or rear-end a car and set off a computerized airbag, is not judicial creativity but the requirements of the statute itself: … [ Continue reading → ]

The National Law Journal July 5, 2010 An ALM publication Daily updates at NLJ.COM Under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, plaintiff must properly specify a $5,000 loss or case will be tossed. BY NICK AKERMAN The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is the omnibus federal computer crime statute outlawing theft and destruction of data, hacking, use of viruses, theft of passwords and extortionate threats to damage computers. 18 U.S.C. 1030. Any business or individual “who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of the” CFAA is entitled to sue for “compensatory damages and injunctive relief.” However, for … [ Continue reading → ]

One person you will not see waiting in line to buy the new i-Phone 4 at the Apple Store is Randall Craig who pleaded guilty to violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. (“CFAA”).  Craig, a subcontractor at the Marine Corps Reserve Center, communicated by email with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Chinese agent.  In the course of their dealings Craig provided the FBI agent with the names and social security numbers of approximately 17,000 Marine employees from a private Marine database in exchange for $500. During their email correspondence, Craig told the agent that he had … [ Continue reading → ]

A federal court in Ohio last week held that the cost of investigating ways to make a website more secure after an authorized access into the website in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) constitutes “loss” to meet the $5,000 jurisdictional amount for loss under the CFAA.  Jedson Engineering, Inc. v. Spirit Construction Services, Inc., 2010 WL 2541619 *19 (S.D. Ohio June 18, 2010) The court rejected the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on Jedson’s CFAA claim on the ground that Jedson had not met the $5,000 jurisdictional amount for loss required by the CFAA.  Jedson relied … [ Continue reading → ]