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Using website against Terms of Use...violation of CFAA? |
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A woman who allegedly created a false profile on the MySpace website and used that account to harass a teenaged girl who later committed suicide was indicted May 14 by a grand jury for violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. United States v. Drew (Indictment), [CD Cal, 2008].
The grand jury, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, indicted her for alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 USC §1030, stemming from her use of the social networking service in violation of its terms of use, finding that she may have accessed MySpace servers "without authorization."
If convicted, the woman could face up to five years in prison for each of three counts of alleged unauthorized access for the purpose of intentionally inflicting emotional distress, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
The CFAA prohibits accessing a protected computer and obtaining information "without authorization," "without authorized access," or in a manner that "exceeds authorized access." |
