{"id":1328,"date":"2019-11-15T13:19:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T13:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/does-the-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-make-it-a-crime-to-online-shop-at-work\/"},"modified":"2019-11-15T13:19:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T13:19:55","slug":"does-the-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-make-it-a-crime-to-online-shop-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/does-the-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-make-it-a-crime-to-online-shop-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Make it a Crime to Online Shop at Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>According to\nthe Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (\u201cCFAA\u201d), is it a federal crime for employees\nto shop online while in the workplace? In Georgia and other states the answer\nmay be yes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It goes\nwithout saying that computers are instrumental in conducting business. Wise\nemployers naturally put policies in place to govern their employees\u2019 use of\ncompany computers and networks. There are also federal and state statutes that\ngovern employees\u2019 computer-related activity. The CFAA is one such statute.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What does it mean to exceed authorized access of a computer system in violation of the CFAA? Turns out, it depends on where you\u2019re located. A recent Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision highlights just how inconsistently the CFAA has been applied around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/dont-get-caught-with-incomplete-terms-of-use\/\">CFAA<\/a> prohibits accessing a computer\nsystem and obtaining information without authorization or by exceeding\nauthorized access. It defines \u201cexceeds authorized access\u201d to mean: \u201cto access a\ncomputer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter\ninformation in the computer that the accessor is not entitled so to obtain or\nalter.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>United States v. Van Buren<\/em>, Van Buren, a\nsergeant with the Cumming, Georgia, Police Department, was charged with a\nviolation of the CFAA. Van Buren had allegedly used the Georgia Crime\nInformation Center (\u201cGCIC\u201d) database for an improper purpose.<a href=\"#_ftn2\">[2]<\/a>\nAs part of his job, Van Buren was authorized to use the GCIC database for\ncriminal investigations. Van Buren had been trained by the police department on\nthe proper and improper uses of the system, which was only supposed to be used\nfor law-enforcement purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During a\nsting operation, the FBI found that Van Buren was using the GCIC database for a\nnon-law enforcement, illicit purpose. He was convicted of a violation of the\nCFAA under the theory that his use of the GCIC database for an illicit purpose exceeded\nthe scope of his authorized access of the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On appeal,\nVan Buren argued that he was innocent because \u201che accessed only databases that\nhe was authorized to use,\u201d even if for inappropriate reasons. Van Buren relied\non decisions by other Circuit Courts of Appeals which have held that \u201cexceeds\nauthorized access\u201d must be read more narrowly to mean the access of computer\ndata or files which the user is not permitted to access\u2014\u201cwhat is colloquially\nknown as \u2018hacking.\u2019\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\">[3]<\/a>&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Eleventh\nCircuit rejected Van Buren\u2019s argument. The Court found that it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/what-to-know-employees-and-computer-fraud-in-the-workplace\/\">bound by its own precedent<\/a>, in which it had adopted a broader\nreading of the CFAA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the\nEleventh Circuit\u2019s prior ruling, it held that a computer user \u201cexceeds\nauthorized access\u201d when they use a system beyond the limits imposed by a\ncomputer use policy.<a href=\"#_ftn4\">[4]<\/a>\nThis means that even if the user has access to a system, use of that system\nthat goes beyond the access rights granted by the system\u2019s owner violates the\nlaw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Van Buren\nargued, the Eleventh Circuit\u2019s interpretation of the CFAA is at odds with the\ninterpretation adopted by several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/the-reach-of-the-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-remains-unresolved-2\/\">other sister Circuit Courts of\nAppeals<\/a>. Those other\ncourts have rejected the Eleventh Circuit\u2019s approach. They reason that such a\nbroad interpretation of the rule \u201cwould expand its scope beyond computer\nhacking to criminalize any unauthorized use of information obtained from a\ncomputer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Common\nactivities such as chatting, playing games, or shopping online are routinely\nprohibited by employer computer-use policies. Under a broad reading of the\nCFAA, \u201csuch minor dalliances would become federal crimes.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Van Buren<\/em> case reaffirmed the Eleventh\nCircuit\u2019s broad reading of the law and the existing split between federal\nappeals courts on the issue. Given this split, it <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OrinKerr\/status\/1187483092660805632\">may finally be time<\/a> for the United States Supreme Court\nto weigh in on and resolve the issue. Until then, employees that use their\nemployer\u2019s computer systems should err on the side of carefully complying with\nthe employer\u2019s computer access and use policies\u2014particularly in Georgia and the\nother states within the Eleventh Circuit. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> 28\nU.S.C. \u00a7 1030(e)(6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> <em>United States v. Van Buren<\/em>, 940 F.3d\n1192, 1198 (11th Cir. 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> <em>United States v. Nosal<\/em>, 676 F.3d 854,\n857 (9th Cir. 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> <em>See United States v. Rodriguez<\/em>, 628 F.3d\n1258, 1263 (11th Cir. 2010). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> <em>Nosal<\/em>, 676 F.3d at 860.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (\u201cCFAA\u201d), is it a federal crime for employees to shop online while in the workplace? In Georgia and other states the answer may be yes. It goes without saying that computers are instrumental in conducting business. Wise employers naturally put policies in place to govern their employees\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Does the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Make it a Crime to Online Shop at Work? - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (\u201cCFAA\u201d), is it a federal crime for employees to shop online while in the workplace?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/does-the-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-make-it-a-crime-to-online-shop-at-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Make it a Crime to Online Shop at Work? 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