U.S. Supreme Court to consider limiting reach of computer fraud law

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-computer/u-s-supreme-court-to-consider-limiting-reach-of-computer-fraud-law-idUSKBN2221XD

By Lawrence Hurley
Reuters.com
April 20, 2020

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to limit 
the type of conduct that can be prosecuted under a federal computer fraud law 
in a case it took up on Monday involving a former Georgia police officer 
convicted after agreeing to investigate whether a purported local stripper was 
an undercover cop.

The justices will hear Nathan Van Buren’s appeal of his conviction under the 
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for conducting a search of law enforcement records 
to dig up information for an acquaintance who gave him cash in return while 
serving as a police sergeant in the city of Cumming.

Van Buren was convicted in 2017 on two federal charges arising from an FBI 
sting operation two years earlier and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, 
which he has yet to serve.

The computer fraud law, enacted in 1986, prohibits accessing a computer without 
authorization and also exceeding authorized access. Van Buren has said that as 
a police officer he was authorized to use the computer and the fact that the 
search he conducted lacked a proper motive does not mean he violated that 
particular law.

[...]

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