federal offense to access a system without authorization. A The main purpose of the Electronic Communication Act of 1986 is to control those people that do not "know" not to invade privacy or better, prosecute those who have. A lot of us are users of systems with "levels" of access. In the BBS world, levels may distinguish between old and new users or between club members. In the corporate and government world, levels may protect different types of proprietary information or trade secrets. Section 2701 also makes it a federal offense to exceed your authorized access on a system. What about electronic e-mail? E-Mail has been the single biggest area of misinformation about the new law. First, section 2701 does make it a federal offense to read someone else's electronic mail. That would be exceeding your authorization, since "private" e-mail systems do not intend for anyone other than the sender or receiver to see that mail. Whoever staffed the bill for Congress realized that system operators were going to have access to information stored on their systems. There are practical technical reasons for this, but there are also practical legal reasons. While the Act does not directly address the liability of system operators for the use of their systems in illegal acts, it recognizes they might have some liability, and so allows them to protect themselves from illegal use. System operators are given special responsibility to go along with this special privilege. Just like a letter carrier can't give your mail to someone else, just like a telegraph operator can't pass your telegram to someone else, just like a telephone operator overhearing your call can't tell someone else what it was about, so system operators are prohibited from disclosing your e-mail traffic to anyone, unless you (or the other party to the traffic) give them permission. So far all I have discussed id that the law has changed to recognize changed in technology. ...
