S.C. State and Federal Courts Construe Aging Federal Computer Crime Statutes
The infamous Willie Sutton reportedly was once asked why he robbed banks. His simple answer: "That's where the money is." Likewise, in an information age, the information that forms the basis for legal disputes is increasingly stored on computers. The South Carolina Court of Appeals recently considered a claim under the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA), found at Title II of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). And the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed a decision of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina considering the reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). It is not surprising that litigants seek to take advantage of the civil liability provisions of these computer crime statutes when their adversaries obtain, transmit, and share electronically stored information. The challenge for courts construing these laws is that both of them were enacted in 1986, before the Internet and email (as we know th