Appeals Court to hear e-mail snooping case

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston will determine whether Bradford Councilman, former vice president of bookseller and e-mail provider Interloc (now Alibris), violated the US Wiretap Act when he copied inbound e-mails from Amazon.com to gain a competitive advantage. The judges, due to hear oral arguments on December 8, have asked both sides to answer two questions: whether the conduct at issue could have been additionally or alternatively prosecuted under the Stored Communications Act and whether the rule of lenity precludes prosecution in this case. The Stored Communications Act prohibits people from intentionally accessing and obtaining information without authorisation while the rule of lenity states that a \'grievous ambiguity or uncertainty\' turns the case in favour of the accused. Full InternetNews report