Supreme Limits The Scope Of Computer Fraud And Abuse Act

In a long awaited opinion, the Supreme Court recently resolved a circuit split regarding the proper interpretation of a statute implicated in many post-employment disputes. Since its enactment, federal courts of appeal have been divided over the proper interpretation of the phrase "exceeds authorized access" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ("CFAA"), a primarily criminal statute that also includes a civil cause of action where an individual accesses a protected computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access. Some courts have held that the "exceeds authorized access" requirement only applies where the individual was authorized to access the computer itself but not the particular files or information that are the subject of the dispute.Conversely, the majority of federal appellate courts have interpreted the phrase to mean that an individual exceeds authorized access where they are permitted to access the files or information but only for