Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)[1] was enacted by Congress in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law (18 U.S.C. § 1030), which had been included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984.
Description
It was written to clarify and increase the scope of the previous version of 18 U.S.C. § 1030 while, in theory, limiting federal jurisdiction to cases "with a compelling federal interest-i.e., where computers of the federal government or certain financial institutions are involved or where the crime itself is interstate in nature."
In addition to clarifying a number of the provisions in the original section 1030, the CFAA also criminalized additional computer-related acts.
Provisions addressed the distribution of malicious code and denial of service attacks. Congress also included in the CFAA a provision criminalizing trafficking in passwords and similar items.
The Act has been amended a number of times—in 1989, 1994, 1996, in 2001 by the USA PATRIOT Act, 2002, and in 2008 by the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act.
See also
- Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. - a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that information alone without a minimum of original creativity cannot be protected by copyright.
