Monday, September 21, 2009

9th Circuit Decides "Unauthorized Access" Issue

Ars reports on a case from the 9th Circuit that is not unlike a case previously discussed here. Basically, I thought it was ludicrous for a person to be guilty of hacking where they were entitled to have access to the computer being hacked. In other words, you can't be guilty of obtaining unauthorized access when your access was authorized. Fortunately, the 9th Circuit appears to agree:
We hold that a person uses a computer 'without authorization'... when the person has not received permission to use the computer for any purpose (such as when a hacker accesses someone’s computer without any permission), or when the employer has rescinded permission to access the computer and the defendant uses the computer anyway.
Whew! Glad we got that one squared away!