Bloomberg News reports that this is the first time that a court has ruled in the US that accessing a private web site without permission may violate the country’s Wiretap Act and/or the Stored Communication Act.
According to the pilot, Robert Konop, the airline viewed his secure site under false pretences and gained unauthorised access to its content by using another pilot’s name to enter. The court in San Francisco reversed a federal judge’s opinion, and stated that:
“the contents of secure web sites are electronic communications in intermediate storage that are protected from unauthorised interception under the Wiretap Act.”