San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal appeals court Wednesday to reject Facebook’s claims that it’s a crime to workaround an IP address block—an interpretation of the law that could criminalize routine online behavior. EFF Legal Fellow Jamie Williams will participate in oral argument in the case, Facebook v. Power Ventures, set for 9:30 am on Dec. 9 before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California.
Power Ventures made a web-based tool that allowed users to log into all of their social networking accounts in one place and aggregate messages, friend lists, and other data. Facebook sued Power, claiming it violated a federal anti-hacking statute, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), when it provided Facebook users a way to access their data through Power after Facebook blocked a specific IP address the company was using to connect to Facebook data. A district court sided with Facebook, finding that designing a system to work around IP address blocks could be a crime under the CFAA.
The CFAA targets unauthorized acts of breaking into computer systems to steal data and cause other harm. In Wednesday’s hearing, Williams will argue that the Ninth Circuit has already ruled that the CFAA must be interpreted narrowly to avoid transforming what was intended to be an anti-hacking statute into a law that could sweep up innocuous conduct. Criminalizing a routine process like switching IP addresses stifles innovation and harms consumers—and it’s not what Congress had in mind.
What:
Facebook v. Power Ventures and Steven Vachani
Who:
EFF Frank Stanton Legal Fellow Jamie Williams
When:
Wednesday, Dec. 9
9:30 am
Where:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals-James R. Browning Courthouse
Courtroom 2, 3rd Fl, Room 330
95 7th St.
San Francisco CA 94103
