Tim Cushing explains:
It’s not just the CFAA that can be abused. This law — recently trimmed a bit by the US Supreme Court — has been abused for years to go after web scrapers, researchers, and information-wants-to-be-free activists. The recent ruling does narrow the scope of that law a bit, but the CFAA still has the potential to do serious damage when wielded carelessly or vengefully.
The state of Georgia has its own set of computer crime laws and they’re just as capable of being interpreted by prosecutors to criminalize acts that shouldn’t be criminal offenses. Fortunately, a state court has made a sensible reading of the law to overturn a conviction for computer trespass — one that saw a former Norcross (GA) city employee hit with felony charges. (h/t Andrew Fleischman)
Jereno Kinslow was a city IT employee who had some problems with his new boss, Greg Cothran. Cothran criticized Kinslow’s work performance, leading to a “loud outburst” from Kinslow. This apparently made Cothran concerned Kinslow might sabotage the city’s network. Certain “safety measures” were put in place and Kinslow was eventually fired.
Before Kinslow was let go, he utilized his administrator-level access to forward copies of emails sent to Cothran to his own personal email account.
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