Cyberside Chats: Everyone wants to be Batman. Hacking Back & Cybersecurity Law
Looking back at 2021 and ahead to 2022
Monthly Minute | Protecting Against Data Scrapers
Death of Activist Aaron Swartz Could Spur Changes to Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
Employer’s Takeover of Former CEO’s LinkedIn Account Lawful Under CFAA
Ryanair recently prevailed in a jury trial in Delaware Federal District Court when the jury determined that Booking.Com B.V. violated the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by engaging in "screen scraping" of data...more
In a recent post, we recounted the myriad of issues raised by recently-filed data scraping suits involving job listings, company reviews and employment data. Soon after, another interesting scraping suit was filed, this time...more
The U.S. Department of Justice will decline to prosecute cyber intrusions based solely on exceeding contractual authorization or which occur pursuant to "good-faith security research." On May 19, 2022, the Department of...more
On May 19, 2022, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced significant clarifications to its policy on charging Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) violations that give some comfort to cyber security consultants who...more
For years, courts and commentators have mused about hypothetical Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) violations by computer security researchers. On May 19, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) published...more
Join Stephanie Skaff and Erik Olson in the discussion on "Platform Ecosystems: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Other Scraping Law Developments." Web scraping has existed as long as the World Wide Web has, and as data has...more
On April 18, 2022, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its narrow interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s (CFAA) “without authorization” prong in a data scraping dispute between hiQ and LinkedIn. The opinion upheld a...more
Over two and a half years ago, this column analyzed a Ninth Circuit case titled HiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corporation, in which the Court agreed with a lower court that had issued a preliminary injunction against LinkedIn...more
After two decisions by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, data scraping is deemed legal if the information is publicly accessible on the internet. ...more
As we have previously discussed, claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) are often asserted as a means of protecting online data from unwanted data scraping activity. The scope and application of the CFAA,...more
On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit earlier this week again affirmed the lower court’s order preliminarily enjoining LinkedIn Corp. (“LinkedIn”) from blocking data analytics company hiQ Labs, Inc.’s...more
In a much-anticipated ruling this week addressing the confluence of website scraping and computer hacking law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the latest federal court to limit the reach of the Computer...more
In 2021, trade secrets and non-competes continued to garner attention on the national stage. Non-competes were the focus of significant legislative activity at both the federal and local levels, while trade secrets lead to...more
Despite the ever increasing concerns over privacy and data breaches, both externally and internally, it may become more difficult for employers to legally protect their confidential and proprietary information...more
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision which was issued on June 3, 2021, reversed an Eleventh Circuit decision and adopted a narrow interpretation of “exceeds unauthorized access” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recent decision in Van Buren v. United States significantly impacts the scope of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (“CFAA”). The case carries implications for computer fraud prosecutions, employee abuse...more
In today’s digital age, employers store immense amounts of information, including confidential and proprietary information, on their on-premises systems, cloud-servers and other data storage solutions. With this collection of...more
With the proliferation of technology and cloud-based computing, employers often struggle to provide employees with the tools to allow access to the information they need to effectively and efficiently do their jobs while...more
In its recent decision in Van Buren v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and its potential use by employers to ensure computer security and protection for...more
The protection of trade secrets and other confidential information is important to the bottom line of every company, whether a Fortune 100 corporation or a small business. In furtherance of that objective, this post gives...more
A trade secret is any information used in one’s business that derives independent economic value from being kept secret. Unlike patents, trade secrets are protected indefinitely for as long as they remain a secret. In the...more
The Supreme Court recently concluded the 2020-2021 term with its decision in the controversial voting rights case of Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee. Although Brnovich and other high-profile cases like Fulton v....more
This Legal Alert is a follow up to our June 3, 2021 Legal Alert, “Supreme Court Narrows Scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” and provides an overview of relevant legal developments related to the topic as well as...more
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) creates liability for anyone who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access.” The CFAA defines “exceeds authorized access” to mean “to access...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently resolved a circuit split regarding the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), specifically weighing in on the “exceeds authorized access” provision of the statute. The CFAA subjects to...more