Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

The U.S. Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act into law in 1986 to protect information and computer systems from the attacks of hackers. The act was later amended by the USA Patriot Act to strengthen its scope and penalties.

Through this act, hackers and other unauthorized individuals are committing an offense upon intentionally using a computer to access personal or confidential information, steal something valuable, or damage the computer, as well as use a computer to cause damage.

The act was the first attempt in outlining criminal activity specifically regarding the use and ownership of computers. As a result, law enforcement did not need to pair unethical computer use together with a non-computer related offense while in the pursuit of cyber criminals. With the passing of the act, it became illegal to use a computer without authorization to access classified information, access the financial records or credit histories of financial institutions or trespass into a government computer.

Although the act was originally implemented to protect citizens from hackers and identity theft, a Missouri mother named Lori Drew was found in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in a widely publicized case of cyberbullying in 2008. The court said Drew went against the terms-of-use policy for popular social networking site MySpace, when she and her co-conspirators faked an account of "Josh Evans," a made-up teenage boy who flirted with and then humiliated 13 year-old Megan Meier, who subsequently hanged herself. This case called attention to the growing problem of net denizens using electronic communication to embarrass, harass and intimidate others, and led to the proposal of the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act.