Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - A tool with Criminal & Civil Consequences

The federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act provides criminal and civil penalties for wrongfully accessing a computer to do harmful things [maybe some of the hard drive damage done by some of Postmus' assessor buds triggers liability under this law??]
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While the CFAA has been used by companies against departing company employees who improperly delete, alter or take information, the CFAA also can apply when companies access competitors' websites to for competitive benefit in violation of websites' terms of service, creating fictitious profiles to snoop about what people are doing online or wrongfully access people's paid online subscription services [wonder if this may include Mitzelfelt's accessing county records to generate a label list for his political mailers while a sitting county supervisor?].
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CFAA §1030(g) provides for a civil remedy and requires a $5,000 loss. In addition to compensatory damages, the injured plaintiff can seek injunctive relief or other equitable relief. The statute appears short (losses within one year of the action's filing)
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A "loss" counting toward the $5,000 threshold under CFAA is not stolen intellectual property, regardless of its value, nor are privacy invasions and/or personally identifiable information, regardless of how valuable. The "damage" must be a "cost"
to the victim like the costs to investigate, respond or remedy the damage the violation caused to the data or computer, any interruption of service, any fees a computer forensics firm charges to secure the violated computer or to investigate the damage caused to the computer and restore lost or damaged data.
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A nice link and more detailed treatment of the statute and tactics is found at http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202537182389&rss=cc as is the email address of the attorney in Texas who wrote the infomative article.
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Definitely a "thinking-out-of-the-box" tool.

INTERESTING LINK on PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT

http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/briefs/sept10/35271Appellant.pdf [Case was remanded to trial for retrial due to prosecutorial misconduct--not a bad brief]

Candy Man is Being Chased??

To some of us that may remember, Brett Granlund's family was involved in the boxed candy business. The former State Assemblyman and current (apparently) political lobbying firm owner is being looked for to answer some grand jury questions? Do I recall Granlund being the man who Postmus talked to before coming into the District Attorney's office to plead guilty to all charges?

Press Censorship--it ain't just happening courtesy of the San Bernardino County Sun, Daily Press and Desert Dispatch!!

A great article on why we need something OTHER than our current print and studio TV/cable TV media. Check out what we were not told or if told, grossly under-reported!!!; For example, in a recent piece in the San Bernardino Sun and Desert Dispatch, it was curiously omitted that Nursery Products, LLC (who wants to dump sludge on a patch of private land in the middle of public lands to ostensibly create a type of compost for which there is no market)had been slapped with a cease and desist order by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management AFTER a recent Superior Court CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) hearing for illegally tearing up public lands. All the articles "covered" (two different papers, two different ownerships) was that the local court had clear ahurdle for Nursery Products, ignoring the bigger problem; sad but ongoing local example of trying to advocate for a dumper!
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http://www.wanttoknow.info/mass_media/censored/press_censorship_11