Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Disloyal Employees?

The Shadow may know, but some courts couldn't care less. Employers increasingly use the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to seek redress against former employees that pilfered company data. Courts have split, however, on whether a former employee's improper use of company information is enough to make out a CFAA claim. As we have previously reported, several courts have held that an employee who accessed information for an improper purpose -- such as his personal benefit or that of his employer's competitor -- acted "without authorization" or "exceed[ed his] authorized access" within the meaning of the Act. But a few courts have gone the other way. Most recently, a federal court in Pennsylvania ruled in Brett Senior & Associates v. Fitzgerald that a former employee's allegedly unauthorized use of client files did not establish that the employee exceeded his authorized access when he took the files.

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