Computer Fraud And Abuse Act Ruling: Did The Ninth Circuit Just Criminalize Password Sharing?

Not exactly. A divided Ninth Circuit panel recently affirmed the conviction of a former employee under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ("CFAA"), holding that "[u]nequivocal revocation of computer access closes both the front door and the back door" to protected computers, and that using a password shared by an authorized system user to circumvent the revocation of the former employee's access is a crime. United States v. Nosal, ("Nosal II") Nos. 14-10037, 14-10275 (9th Cir. July 5, 2016). The dissenting opinion raised concerns that the majority opinion would criminalize password-sharing in a wide variety of contexts where the password was shared by an authorized user but in violation of a service provider's terms of service, such as for email or social networking.