Security News > 2021 > June > Supreme Court Limits Prosecutors' Use of Anti-Hacking Law
The Supreme Court on Thursday limited prosecutors' ability to use an anti-hacking law to charge people with computer crimes.
The justices ruled prosecutors had overreached in using the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to charge him.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Trump's most recent appointee, wrote for the majority that the government's interpretation of the law "Would attach criminal penalties to a breathtaking amount of commonplace computer activity." She said if the government's interpretation of the law were correct then "Millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens are criminals."
"Employers commonly state that computers and electronic devices can be used only for business purposes. So on the Government's reading of the statute, an employee who sends a personal e-mail or reads the news using her work computer has violated" the law, she wrote.
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act became law in 1986 and was a response by Congress to a growing need to address computer crimes.
In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said that an "Ordinary reader of the English language" would have concluded that the police sergeant in the case exceeded his "Authorized access." And he called the majority's interpretation of the law "Contrary to the plain meaning of the text." He was joined by fellow conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.