U.S. ‘Hacker’ Crackdown Sparks Debate Over Computer Fraud Law

In June 2010, Andrew Auernheimer, a well-known Internet security expert, discovered a gaping hole in AT&T’s website that exposed 114,000 email addresses belonging to the wireless giant’s Apple iPad customers. After a colleague downloaded the data, Auernheimer passed the information to a journalist at the wesbite Gawker. The episode was a major embarrassment for AT&T because the list included thousands of high-profile individuals, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. AT&T quickly patched the hole. The FBI promptly launched an investigation, and last November, Auernheimer was convicted of two felony counts under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a 1980s-era law originally designed to punish and deter intrusions into government and financial industry computer systems. His colleague, Daniel Spitler, pleaded guilty last year. On Monday, Auernheimer, 27, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $73,000 ...

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