United States Supreme Court vacates Saraliene’s client’s Computer Fraud and Abuse Act conviction

The United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Saraliene’s client in this Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case. In United States v. Van Buren, Saraliene’s client was the subject of an FBI sting operation. At the FBI’s instruction, a person requested that Mr. Van Buren, a police officer, run a computer search for a license plate number that purportedly belonged to a local exotic dancer. Mr. Van Buren accessed the Georgia Crime Information Center database, which contains license plate and vehicle registration information. As a law enforcement officer, Van Buren was authorized to access this database for law-enforcement purposes. Mr. Van Buren was convicted of violating CFAA. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, rejecting Van Buren’s argument that he could not have violated the Act because he had permission to access the databases. The Supreme Court reversed the Eleventh Circuit ruling and vacated the conviction.

SCOTUS Overturns First, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits and Limits Scope of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Prosecutions
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Supreme Court sides with police officer who improperly searched license plate database
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Van Buren is a Victory Against Overbroad Interpretations of the CFAA, and Protects Security Researchers
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Supreme Court Narrows Scope Of Computer Crime Law
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