The Return of the Laptop From Hell

A U.S. district court declined to dismiss Hunter Biden’s CFAA lawsuit against Garrett Ziegler/Marco Polo, finding that unauthorized access can concern the ownership and privacy interests in data regardless of who possesses the physical device. The analysis explores how the CFAA’s “unauthorized access” and “exceeding authorized access” standards apply, references Van Buren v. United States, and underscores the importance of contracts and governance in cloud/third-party contexts for determining who may authorize access to data.