United States v. Valle, No. 14-2710 (2d Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of one count of conspiracy to kidnap and one count of improperly accessing a computer in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. 1030. On appeal, the government challenged the district court's judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count and defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction on the CFAA count. Defendant was an active member of an Internet sex fetish community and many of his Internet communications involved discussions of committing horrific acts of sexual violence. Because “[t]he link between fantasy and intent is too tenuous for fantasy [alone] to be probative,”and because the remaining evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of an illegal agreement or defendant’s specific intent to kidnap anyone, the court affirmed the district court’s judgment of acquittal on the single count of conspiracy to kidnap. The court also concluded that the text, statutory history, and purpose of the CFAA permit both the following interpretations: (1) an individual “exceeds authorized access” to a computer when, with an improper purpose, he accesses a computer to obtain or alter information that he is otherwise authorized to access, and (2) an individual “exceeds authorized access” only when he obtains or alters information that he does not have authorization to access for any purpose which is located on a computer that he is otherwise authorized to access. Consequently, the court applied the rule of lenity and adopted the latter construction. The court reversed the judgment of conviction as to the CFAA count.
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