Timothy B. Lee writes:
A federal judge rejected a Pennsylvania woman’s argument that her employer violated a federal anti-hacking statute when it took control of her LinkedIn account after firing her. The court ruled the harms cited by the plaintiff were too speculative to pass muster under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
Linda Eagle was the head of a company called Edcomm when it was acquired in 2010. But relations soured and Eagle was fired the following year. Eagle had shared her LinkedIn password with another Edcomm employee so that she could help Eagle manage the account. When Eagle was shown the door, her former assistant changed the password on her account, freezing Eagle out of it. Edcomm then replaced Eagle’s name and picture with the name and photograph of her successor.
Eagle sued in federal court, arguing among other things that the company’s actions violated the CFAA. But the court dismissed that argument last week.
Read more on Ars Technica. The decision can be found here.
Thanks to Joe Cadillic who sent in this link.