Supreme Court Overturns Overbroad Interpretation of CFAA, Protecting Researchers and Users
upstart writes:
EFF has long fought to reform vague, dangerous computer crime laws like the CFAA. We're gratified that the Supreme Court today acknowledged that overbroad application of the CFAA risks turning nearly any user of the Internet into a criminal based on arbitrary terms of service. We remember the tragic and unjust results of the CFAA's misuse, such as the death of Aaron Swartz, and we will continue to fight to ensure that computer crime laws no longer chill security research, journalism, and other novel and interoperable uses of technology that ultimately benefit all of us.
[...] Today's win is an important victory for users everywhere. The Court rightly held that exceeding authorized access under the CFAA does not encompass "violations of circumstance-based access restrictions on employers' computers." Thus, "an individual 'exceeds authorized access' when he accesses a computer with authorization but then obtains information located in particular areas of the computer- such as files, folders, or databases-that are off limits to him."
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.