Computer Must Be Damaged Under CFAA

A plaintiff must show that his computer was actually damaged in order to properly allege a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a federal judge found.

The issue arose in a case where a former employee was accused of unauthorized copying and emailing of computer files so that he could use the information at his new place of employment in competition with his old employer. There was no allegation that his former employer’s computers were damaged as a result of his actions.

The court agreed with the defendant’s argument that, under the federal statute, a person cannot be held civilly liable for copying information from a computer without authority to do so without a showing that the copying impaired the integrity or availability of the information in the database.

“Though Garelli Wong would like us to believe that recent amendments to the CFAA are intended to expand the use of the CFAA to cases where a trade secret has been misappropriated through the use of a computer, we do not believe that such conduct alone can show ‘impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system or information.’ Therefore, we conclude that Garelli Wong has failed to sufficiently plead damage under the CFAA,” the court wrote.

The court found that both damage and loss are required under the CFAA. Since the plaintiff cannot show damage, the case was dismissed.

Garelli Wong and Associates, Inc. v. William M. Nichols, N.D. Ill. No. 07 C 6227 (Filed January 16, 2008)