Among the questions posed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case of United States v. Nosal is whether a person can be convicted under an “anti-hacking statute” if they do not circumvent a technical or code-based access barrier. Ross Todd from The Recorder[1] interviewed Ad Astra associate Michael Dorsi and quoted Mr. Dorsi on the difficulty of defining a technical access barrier. The underlying events in the Nosal case took place in 2004. As stated in The Recorder:
Dorsi said one need only look at how long Nosal’s case has been pending to see the problem with tying CFAA allegations to some sort of technology-based standard.
Said Dorsi, “If we do end up with a ‘technological access barrier’ standard we will constantly be catching up with the question of ‘What is a barrier?’
In addition to its work on NovelPoster, Ad Astra Law Group presently represents workers’ compensation law firm Reyes & Barsoum in ongoing CFAA litigation in Los Angeles County Superior Court against another law firm, Knox Ricksen.
[1] Ross Todd, Nosal Appeal Could Extend Limits on Computer Hacking Law, The Recorder, October 16, 2015, available at http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202740085781/Nosal-Appeal-Could-Extend-Limits-on-Computer-Hacking-Law