US Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Police in Computer Database Abuse Case
A former police officer who violated department policy by misusing his authorization to search a law enforcement database for personal reasons did not violate federal computer laws, the US Supreme Court held in a Thursday decision
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2021) A former police officer who violated department policy by misusing his authorization to search a law enforcement database for personal reasons did not violate federal computer laws, the US Supreme Court held in a Thursday decision.
Nathan Van Buren, a former police sergeant, ran a license-plate search in a law enforcement computer database in exchange for $5,000 in what turned out to be an FBI sting operation. The Federal Government then charged and convicted him with a felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which Van Buren appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
"We must decide whether Van Buren also violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA), which makes it illegal 'to access a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter.
' He did not," Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion.
The ruling in favor of Van Buren holds that while he did access the database for improper purposes, he nonetheless had authorization to access and use the database, which means he cannot be in violation of the CFAA with its current wording.
The decision, from which Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts dissented, reverses an Eleventh Circuit decision and remands the case for further proceedings consistent with the court's decision.