In 1984, the CFAA began as a criminal statute to protect classified information in government computer systems. The statute, initially, was restricted to “federal interest computers,” which included only computers of governmental and financial institutions. Throughout the years, Congress progressively expanded its reach, both in terms of who may file suit and what computers are protected. In 1994, Congress added, for the first time, a private right of action to allow “[a]ny person who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of [the statute]” to “maintain a civil action against the violator to obtain compensatory damages and injunctive relief or other equitable relief.” Further amendments in 1996 extended the range of the CFAA from “federal interest computers” to “protected computers” used in interstate commerce. The CFAA prohibits seven …show more content…
In doing so, the Ninth Circuit renounced the “broad” approaches use principles of agency. The Brekka court overtly denied holding an employee liable under the CFAA’s “without authorization” language based on an agency theory in order to avoid interpreting the CFAA in a “surprising and novel way[] that impose[s] unexpected burdens on defendants.” Through Brekka the Ninth Circuit advanced what it called a “sensible” interpretation of the CFAA, giving separate meaning to the phrases “without authorization” and “exceeds authorized access” by focusing on the “employer’s decision to allow or to terminate an employee’s authorization to access a computer[.]” In Pulte Homes, Inc. v. Laborers’ International Union of North America, the Sixth Circuit greatly relied on the Brekka holding to give meaning to the CFAA’s “without authorization” and “exceeding authorized access” language. The Sixth Circuit¸ through Pulte Homes, found the phrases to be separate and
The bulletin spoke directly to the issue in the case: whether firemen who were on-call in the firehouse, but free to pursue their own activities within the firehouse, were on “working time” as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Court concluded that even though the administrative bulletin was not the product of “adversary proceedings” or “conclusions of law from findings of fact,” as in administrative adjudications, it may still be “entitled to respect.” Critical to this conclusion was the Court’s acknowledgement that Congress intended that certain duties be left to the Administrator, and that in the pursuit of those duties he had “accumulated considerable experience” in problems arising under the statute he was responsible for. Because it was in the interest of both “[g]ood administration of the Act and good judicial administration” that the judicial should conflict with the administrative only when supported with “very good reasons,” the Court accepted the interpretation promoted by the Administrator. That the courts can give judicial deference to informal administrative action is critical to allowing administrative agencies to perform their executive
To continue, an article titled, “How the NSA’s Surveillance Proceeds Threaten America’s Privacy”, talks about the FSIA Amendment
Held: Because the search of Quon’s text messages was reasonable based on a search for work-related purposes, petitioners did not violate respondents’ Fourth Amendment rights, and the Ninth Circuit erred by concluding otherwise.
After the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, the United States government, specifically the Federal Bureau of Investigation was in a dispute with the technology company Apple. The FBI seized the iPhone of Syed Farook who along with his wife Tasfeen Malik killed 14 people and injured 22. Farook and his wife were then killed in a shootout with the police. However, the FBI could not bypass the security code that Farook placed on his phone, and access information within the device. Therefore, the bureau requested that Apple create a backdoor which is a mean of access to a computer program that bypasses the programs security measures. Apple refused to comply with the bureau’s request as the company argued that it would jeopardize the privacy of their customers and is an overreach of state power. Thus, the conflict was going to be decided legally, until the FBI canceled the first court hearing with Apple. The FBI was able to unlock Farook’s phone without Apple’s help through a third party company. But the government’s actions set in place a dangerous precedent. By creating a back door, the government is able to access information on any Apple device and has weakened the company’s cyber security. To prevent further legal disputes, Congress and the president should create a modern law that can balance the interests of national security and privacy in the 21st century.
Verizon Virginia Inc., 2011, plaintiff was fired in retaliation for his exercise of FMLA rights over a two day period when the employer had videotape evidence of the plaintiff driving, spending 30 minutes at the gym, renting videos and shopping. The employer concluded this activity was inconsistent with his claim that he had migraines on those days. Nevertheless, the plaintiff asserted that the employer’s reason for termination was a pretext for FMLA retaliation because it took the “extraordinary step” of placing him under surveillance, however the court ruled that the surveillance did not show that the employer’s reasons for terminating plaintiff were pretextual since the employer had hired private investigators at least five times in the past and the plaintiff did not prove that similarly situated employees were treated differently (Smith,
“The Playpen Story: Some Fourth Amendment Basics and Law Enforcement Hacking” is an analytical blog post published on the Depplinks Blog section of the Electronic Frontier Foundations (EFF) website by Mark Rumold. Mark Rumold is a senior staff attorney at EFF, a non-profit organization with a stated purpose of: “defend[ing] free speech online, fight[ing] illegal surveillance, advocating for users and innovators, support freedom-enhancing technologies”. This article is one of several, written by Rumold covering the FBI investigations and prosecutions connected to the child pornography hosting Tor site called “Playpen”. The author analyzes how the FBI actions during the investigation relate to the Fourth Amendment and proceeds to contrast them with the established legal precedence. The author argues how the hacking performed by the FBI are either searches or seizures and thus covered by the Fourth Amendments. He interprets the courts’ rulings on these cases and translates them into future implications for privacy. Author’s objective tone with a hint of concern indicates that this article is for readers 25 years of age or older valuing their privacy and constitutional rights. While he could have included greater detail, it would turn off his intended audience by providing superfluous information unrelated to the analysis he is conducting. Lack of case details and references to previous postings and articles shows that he is writing for
The Full Court also rejected AIG’s argument that the clause ‘permitted’ adverse action. In interpreting the term ‘permitted’ to mean ‘authorise’ the Full Court found the clause operated passively and therefore did not meet the threshold of ‘authorise’ which would require a positive operation of the clause .
Digital privacy concerns, which have been a major issue in our country since 2001, increasingly violate our basic human rights as global citizens. The growing amount of government surveillance has manifested in the enactment of acts such as SOPA and CISPA. Although their intent on stopping digital piracy and attacks were clear, both were immediately met with harsh criticism; they allowed big corporations to violate our privacy rights by sharing our personal information with both other companies and the government. Our President, although publicly expressing his acknowledgement of the issue, failed to discuss an array of other pressing dilemmas regulated by the recently exposed National Security Agency (NSA), especially those involving
The government argued that the warrantless ex parte seizure of 27,000 private e-mails was not a violation of the Fourth Amendments prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. The government argued that the e-mails gathered from Warshak did, in fact, violate the fourth Amendment but the government relied on good faith on the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) (Craig, 2013). The Stored Communications Act permits a government entity to compel a service provider
If the state of Kansas passed this bill, the (CFA) article would be totally for it. The CFA embraces the U.S. flag as a significant nationwide symbol. If people light fire to this vital historical piece of America as a way to protest how could they be called Americans? This bill would be one of the problems to reaching their goal: making another amendment to put on the Constitution that would look after the U.S. Flag as the nation's symbol. It shows how significant the Flag is to the American people. The CFA would need to persuade the federal leaders in order to get the bill passed. A method they can use in their favor could be politicization their representatives to upkeep their bill for people not being able to burn the American
The Federal Privacy Act was implemented in 1974 to establish a co de of fair information policies that dominate the selection, upkeep, use, and the spread of information abou t individuals that is conserved in systems of records by federal agencies. This act was put into place to protect individuals’ privacy from the embezzlement of Federal records, to ensure that individuals be allowed entry to records concerning them which are maintained by Federal agencies. Priva cy laws are concerning laws that allocate with control, keep , and using of personally distinguishable information of individuals, which can be collected by governments, public or private organizations, or by other individuals. Anyone who has been prosecuted of these
“See you in court” has been the mantra often cried when a person feels their privacy has been violated, or their free speech infringed. When people take a legal cause of action against a party, they feel wronged them and sue them in court for damages, this is known as a tort (p. 110). Current laws seem to favor free speech above privacy rights. These complex legal issues are often viewed through a libertarian or authoritarian lens. When the internet came along it compounded the difficulty of these matters. In 1996, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in response to growing issues sprouting from the new medium, the internet. Privacy expert and law professor, Daniel J. Solove addresses these complex legal issues in chapters
The Freedom of Information Act was enforced when our government realized the importance of the relationship between access to information and government accountability. This act enables citizens to view a plethora of different files and records from government agencies. This act proved to be “a principal instrument for breaking down bureaucratic secrecy in American public administration” (p. 62).
In my judgment the Sheriff dismissed the consultant simply because of two things. First, the Sheriff wanted to be “Accredited”. According to the CALEA (the gold standard in public safety) some benefits include: a department has established verifications of quality and better education for public safety personnel to name a couple. In short it “looks good” in the community, and not knowing the status of the Sheriff he/she may be up for reelection. Second, it seams when the consultant inquired about the promotional system the question of “How do you feel about emigrants” is not a proper question, and should never be asked. Simply put under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution this prohibits states from disallowing equal safeguard
This chapter presents about the FPGA ideas and FPGA Synthesis Flow. An FPGA is a device that comprises of thousands or even large number of transistors connected to implement logic functions. They implement functions from simple addition and subtraction to complex digital filtering and error detection and its correction.