Volokh Conspiracy for the interesting chart below showing a rise in court citations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). This makes sense as the proliferation of technology is turning everything into a computer. The CFAA criminalizes, among other things, unauthorized access to a protected computer. The definition of a protected computer is basically anything with a microprocessor, so this means that smart phones, iPads and other like devices are protected computers under the CFAA. The CFAA also provides for a civil cause of action by parties whose computers have been accessed without authorization. Here’s the chart:
Tor Ekeland, P.C., currently represents Andrew Auernheimer whom the government has charged with violating the CFAA, in his federal criminal case. Because of this, we are becoming intimately familiar with the highly problematic CFAA.
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