{"id":552163,"date":"2021-06-04T08:50:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T12:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=552163"},"modified":"2021-06-04T08:50:56","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T12:50:56","slug":"historic-6-3-supreme-court-decision-narrows-anti-hacking-law-to-avoid-criminalizing-commonplace-computer-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/historic-6-3-supreme-court-decision-narrows-anti-hacking-law-to-avoid-criminalizing-commonplace-computer-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic 6-3 Supreme Court Decision Narrows Anti-Hacking Law To Avoid Criminalizing \u2018Commonplace Computer Activity\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhistoric-6-3-supreme-court-decision-narrows-anti-hacking-law-to-avoid-criminalizing-commonplace-computer-activity%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=552163&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1279999124-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>In a 6-to-3 decision, the Supreme Court massively restricted the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, a federal anti-hacking law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/courts_law\/supreme-court-hacking-law\/2021\/06\/03\/67243be6-c46e-11eb-9a8d-f95d7724967c_story.html\">The Washington Post<\/a>, \u201cthe majority of justices [said] the government\u2019s \u2018breathtaking\u2019 interpretation of the statute could make criminals of \u2018millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The case discussed whether Nathan Van Buren, a former Georgia police officer, violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it illegal to \u201caccess a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As The Washington Post explained, \u201cVan Buren was paid about $5,000 by an acquaintance to use his official computer access to track down information on a woman the man had met at a strip club,\u201d with the former police officer later learning that \u201cthe 2015 payment, from someone police officers had been warned to steer clear of, was part of a sting operation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Supreme Court ruling reverses the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which \u201cupheld Van Buren\u2019s conviction and sentence of 18 months in prison.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Writing the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/20pdf\/19-783_k53l.pdf\"><span>majority opinion<\/span><\/a><span>, Justice Amy Coney Barrett said that while Van Buren violated department policy, his behavior did not meet this definition, which \u201ccovers those who obtain information from particular areas in the computer \u2014 such as files, folders, or databases \u2014 to which their computer access does not extend.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The provision \u201cdoes not cover those who, like Van Buren, have improper motives for obtaining information that is otherwise available to them,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This case represents a deeper debate over the breadth of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. Those in favor of broadening its reading refer to the access and release of \u201ccorporate secrets,\u201d or \u201cnefarious\u201d use of such information. Those in favor of narrowing its reading argue in favor of protecting workers \u201cwho used their company laptops for activities such as checking social media or shopping for shoes,\u201d as well as whistleblowers who could be prevented from exposing \u201cwrongdoing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe government\u2019s interpretation of the statute would attach criminal penalties to a breathtaking amount of commonplace computer activity,\u201d Barrett wrote, noting the potential criminalization of \u201ceverything from embellishing an online-dating profile to using a pseudonym on Facebook.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On the subject of workplace concerns, Barrett added that <\/span><span>\u201cemployers commonly state that computers and electronic devices can be used only for business purposes. So on the government\u2019s reading of the statute, an employee who sends a personal e-mail or reads the news using her work computer has violated the CFAA.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For the first time, the three justices nominated by President Donald Trump \u2014 Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett \u2014 joined the court\u2019s \u201cliberal\u201d justices \u2014 Associate Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan \u2014 in their decision regarding <em>Van Buren v. United States<\/em>. The dissenting opinion was filed by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBoth the common law and statutory law have long punished those who exceed the scope of consent when using property that belongs to others,\u201d Thomas wrote. \u201cA valet, for example, may take possession of a person\u2019s car to park it, but he cannot take it for a joyride.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cVan Buren never had a \u2018right\u2019 to use the computer to obtain the specific license plate information. Everyone agrees that he obtained it for personal gain, not for a valid law enforcement purpose. And without a valid law enforcement purpose, he was<\/span><i><span> forbidden<\/span><\/i><span> to use the computer to obtain that information,\u201d Thomas continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Thomas agreed that broader interpretations of such laws could further criminalize so-called \u201ccommon practices,\u201d he argued that this was hardly unique. \u201cThe number of federal laws and regulations that trigger criminal penalties may be as high as several hundred thousand,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt is understandable to be uncomfortable with so much conduct being criminalized, but that discomfort does not give us authority to alter statutes,\u201d Thomas added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span> member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a 6-to-3 decision, the Supreme Court massively restricted the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, a federal anti-hacking law.As reported by The Washington Post, \u201cthe &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2279188,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1279999124-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Historic 6-3 Supreme Court Decision Narrows Anti-Hacking Law To Avoid Criminalizing \u2018Commonplace Computer Activity\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1279999124-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Historic 6-3 Supreme Court Decision Narrows Anti-Hacking Law To Avoid Criminalizing \u2018Commonplace Computer Activity\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}