Unauthorized Computer Access Convictions Tossed by Third Circuit

A woman found guilty of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act convinced a divided federal appeals court to toss her convictions, saying there was no evidence of “unauthorized” computer access.

Frances Eddings was convicted as an accomplice and co-conspirator of four counts of violating the CFAA and one count of conspiracy to violate the CFAA.

As part of the allged scheme, Eddings’ co-conspirator, Jude Denis had accessed an email account she had through her former employer—the Prostate Cancer Foundation—after resigning from her job. But there was no evidence Denis’s employer rescinded the permission it gave her to access the ...