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Criminal Law Keyed to Kennedy
United States of America v. David Nosal
Citation:
676 F.3d 854 (2012)Facts
The defendant used to work for Korn/Ferry, an executive search firm. After left the company, he convinced some of his former coworkers (who were still working at the firm) to help him start a competing business. The employees used their log-in credentials to download source lists, names and contact information from a confidential database on the company’s computer, and then sent that information to the defendant. The employees were authorized to access the database, but Korn/Ferry had a policy that forbade disclosing confidential information.
The government indicted the defendant of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”, among other things. The CFAA counts charged him with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(4).
T he defendant filed a motion to dismiss the CFAA counts, arguing that the statute targets only hackers, not individuals who access a computer with authorization but then misuse information they obtain by means of such access. The district court granted it, and the government appealed.
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