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13 Pitt. J. Tech. L. & Pol'y 1 (2012-2013)

handle is hein.journals/pittjtlp13 and id is 1 raw text is: INTERPRETING THE COMPUTER FRAUD AND ABUSE ACT By Lee Goldman* Volume XIII - Fall 2012 I. INTRODUCTION Computers play an integral role in today's society. They do everything from maintaining payroll accounts and issuing checks to providing unlimited access to information worldwide. While computers provide many benefits, they are increasingly used as tools for wrongdoing, causing estimated losses of billions of dollars each year.' Computer hackers can, among other things, fraudulently alter accounts, steal business or personal information, and corrupt or disable computer systems. Congress enacted and has repeatedly amended the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to combat the increasing proliferation of computer crimes.2 The primary substantive provisions of the CFAA are predicated on the defendant accessing a protected computer without authorization or by exceeding authorized access.3 A majority of the Circuit Courts of Appeals, to address the meanings of without authorization or exceeded authorized access, has adopted definitions that alarmingly broaden the scope of the Act.4 For example, if a child accesses a text message from a parent's phone without permission, she is subject to criminal prosecution. Similarly, under the Circuit Courts of Appeals' majority approach to determining the scope of the phrase exceeds authorized access, a person misstating * Professor of Law at the University of Detroit-Mercy; J.D., 1979, Stanford University. 1 See Shawn E. Tuma, What Does CFAA Mean and Why Should I Care? -A Primer on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for Civil Litigators, 63 S. C. L. REV. 141, 150 (2011); Orin S. Kerr, Cybercrime's Scope: Interpreting Access and Authorization in Computer Misuse Statutes, 78 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1596, 1605 (2003); Charlotte Decker, Note, Cyber Crime 2.0: An Argument to Update the United States Criminal Code to Reflect the Changing Nature of Cyber Crime, 81 S. CAL. L. REV. 959, 961 (2008); see also Tuma, supra, at 146, 151 (citing studies indicating that 65% of people worldwide have been the victim of some type of cyber crime and 80-90% of businesses have experienced information security breaches). 2 See 18 U.S.C. §1030 (2006 & Supp. 112008); see also infra notes 7-18 and accompanying text. 3 See infra notes 15-18 and accompanying text. 4 See infra notes 19-50 and accompanying text. 13 PGH. J. TECH. L. & POL'Y 1 (2012) 1