Employees Who Take Proprietary Data May Violate the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

We recently published an article discussing the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the Potomac Techwire. It focused on the developing law surrounding whether a departing employee who takes proprietary electronic data has violated the Act by accessing his employer's computer to remove the data once he has begun plans to resign and join another company. There is a split among courts regarding whether that employee was "authorized" to access the computer or "exceeded his authorized access" when he did so. For those courts which have found that the access was unlawful, this Act becomes a big stick because it creates federal jurisdiction in cases that, most often, may only be brought in state courts. To review the entire article, see the link: http://www.williamsmullen.com/employees-who-take-proprietary-data-may-violate-the-federal-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-03-11-2009/