Of Access, Excess, and Trespass: The Supreme Court’s Van Buren Ruling on the CFAA -- June 24, 2021

Early this month, the Supreme Court ended decades of uncertainty for security researchers, database users and data-based internet business builders about the scope of the landmark 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) . . . or did it?!

Find out on Thursday, June 24 at 5:00pm EDT as USTPC Law Subcommittee Chair and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Grosso moderates the next USTPC HotTopics webinar, "Of Access, Excess, and Trespass: The Supreme Court’s Van Buren Ruling on the CFAA," a 90-minute deep dive into the Court’s new and long-awaited Van Buren decision.

The CFAA’s twisted history, (mis) application in both criminal and civil cases, conflicts with civil liberties, and how the Van Buren decision could affect security and technology research all will be covered by this truly stellar panel of USTPC and guest experts.

Panelist Bios

Alan Butler is Executive Director and President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, D.C. Mr. Butler joined EPIC in 2011 and served as Interim Executive Director during 2020. Prior to his appointment as Executive Director, Mr. Butler managed EPIC's litigation, including the Amicus Program, and filed briefs in emerging privacy and civil liberties cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts. Mr. Butler has argued on behalf of EPIC in privacy and open government cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Third Circuit, and the Supreme Courts of New Mexico and New Jersey. Mr. Butler has authored briefs on behalf of EPIC in significant privacy cases, including an amicus brief in Riley v. California that was cited in the Supreme Court's unanimous opinion upholding Fourth Amendment protections for cell phones.

He has also authored briefs on national security, open government, workplace privacy, and consumer privacy issues. Mr. Butler is also Chair of the Privacy and Information Protection Committee of the ABA Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice. He is co-author of the most recent edition of Communications Law and Policy: Cases and Materials and has also published several articles on emerging privacy issues, including: Products Liability and the Internet of (Insecure) Things: Should Manufacturers Be Liable for Damage Caused by Hacked Devices?, Get a Warrant: The Supreme Court's New Course for Digital Privacy Rights after Riley v. California, Standing Up to Clapper: How to Increase Transparency and Oversight of FISA Surveillance, and When Cyberweapons End Up on Private Networks: Third Amendment Implications for Cyber-security Policy. Mr. Butler is a graduate of UCLA School of Law and Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned a B.A. in Economics.

Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From 2000-2015 she served as EFF’s Legal Director as well as its General Counsel. Ms. Cohn first became involved with EFF in 1993, when EFF asked her to serve as the outside lead attorney in Bernstein v. Dept. of Justice, the successful First Amendment challenge to the U.S. export restrictions on cryptography. Issues she currently handles for EFF include: NSA Spying, CFAA Reform, Platform Censorship, and International Surveillance Technologies. For 10 years prior to joining EFF, she was a civil litigator in private practice handling technology-related cases. Before starting private practice, she worked for a year at the United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. Ms. Cohn also served as counsel to the plaintiffs in Bowoto v. Chevron, two lawsuits in San Francisco arising from Chevron's involvement in human rights abuses against environmental protesters in Nigeria. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tor Project.

Ms. Cohn has been named to TheNonProfitTimes 2020 Power & Influence TOP 50 list, honoring 2020's movers and shakers. In 2018, Forbes selected her as one of America's Top 50 Women in Tech. The National Law Journal named Ms. Cohn one of 100 most influential lawyers in America in 2013, noting: "[I]f Big Brother is watching, he better look out for Cindy Cohn." She was also named in 2006 for "rushing to the barricades wherever freedom and civil liberties are at stake online." In 2007 the National Law Journal also named her one of the 50 most influential women lawyers in America. In 2010 the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of California awarded her its Intellectual Property Vanguard Award and in 2012 the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded her the James Madison Freedom of Information Award. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and did her undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa and the London School of Economics.

Andrew Grosso (Moderator) has been Principal Attorney with Andrew Grosso & Associates in Washington, DC since 1994. Prior to entering private practice, he served from 1983 - 1994 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Florida, and in Boston in the District of Massachusetts, concentrating in the criminal prosecution of government pro¬gram fraud. He founded the Department of Justice’s first health care fraud task force, and was a founding member of the Department’s national Health Care Fraud Working Group. Mr. Grosso’s practice includes the prosecution of False Claim Act whistleblower or “qui tam” cases, hi-tech commercial litigation, corporate compliance matters and internal investigations, Internet and privacy law, and cyber security and cyber litigation. He has acted as counsel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-authored the resulting “Report to the President: MIT and the Prosecution of Aaron Swartz.”

Mr. Grosso has served on the Council for the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Criminal Justice Section; has chaired that Section’s Committee on Science, Technology and Forensics; and has been a member of the Committee for the International Freedom for Scientists for the American Physical Society (APS). Since 1996 he has been a member of the U.S. Technology Policy Committee (USTPC) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and currently chairs USTPC’s Law Subcommittee. He also has twice chaired the ABA’s National Institute for CyberLaw.

Mark Rasch has more than 30 years of experience in cybersecurity and data privacy, including within the US Department of Justice, where he created the DOJ Computer Crime Unit and Cyber-Forensics practice and prosecuted many early hacker cases. Currently of counsel to the law firm of Kohrman, Jackson, Krantz, Mark’s experience includes advising Fortune 100 compan¬ies on international cybersecurity and privacy compliance issues, data breach management, cloud security, The Internet of things (IoT) and AI and machine learning. Additionally, he is regularly called upon to help entities in the financial services, healthcare, entertainment, retail and manufacturing sectors.

Mark has distinguished himself as a thought leader in the cybersecurity and data privacy space, having authored more than 1,200 articles and books on the topic. He is a frequent commen-tator in the media, providing insight on internet-related issues to outlets including CNN, NBC, BBC, Fox News, CBC, ABC, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and more. Mark has also developed and taught courses in law, cybersecurity, cyber-forensics, digital investigation, data compliance, incident response, privacy and media law at various academic institutions across the country, including Harvard Law School, George Washington University law school and school of engineering, University of Maryland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, American University law school and school of public policy, Georgetown University, James Madison University, Stanford University and George Mason University.

Eric Vandevelde is a litigation partner at Gibson Dunn and a member of its White Collar Defense & Investigations, Privacy, Cybersecurity & Data Innovation, Intellectual Property, and Crisis Management practice groups. He is a former federal prosecutor and has a deep technical background, having obtained a degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley and Latin America. From 2007 to 2014, Eric served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He was Deputy Chief of the Cyber & Intellectual Property Crimes Section, supervising one of the nation’s largest teams of federal prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting computer hacking and intellectual property offenses.

Eric has been selected by Chambers USA in the area of White Collar Crime & Government Investigations, has been repeatedly recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers Magazine, and was named one of the Top 20 Cyber/Artificial Intelligence Lawyers in California by The Daily Journal. Eric's practice focuses on white collar and regulatory enforcement defense, internal investigations, and technology-heavy civil litigation matters, often involving computer/software-related trade secrets, copyrights, patents, and other intellectual property. Eric has also repre-sen¬ted clients in some of the highest profile, highest stakes cases in the country concerning govern¬ment and law enforcement demands for corporate data and assistance in connection with crim¬inal and national security-related investigations.

Register now for Of Access, Excess, and Trespass: The Supreme Court’s Van Buren Ruling on the CFAA!