RSS Feed
Facebook
Twitter
Google+A plain-meaning interpretation of 18 U.S.C. § 2701 (“Unlawful access to stored communications”) suggests that it applies only to “electronic communication services” and not to “remote computing services,” since the offense is defined with the following elements:
- intentional,
- access,
- without authorization,
- to a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided.
Alternate grounds for the offense are to
- intentionally,
- exceed authorization,
- to access,
- a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided,
- thereby obtaining, altering, or preventing authorized access to a wire or electronic communication,
- while it is in electronic storage.
Since, as noted above, “electronic storage” applies only to “electronic communication services,” these alternate grounds also exclude “remote computing services” as well. See 18 U.S.C. § 2510(17).
As there appears to be no equivalent statute for remote computing services, these criminal sanctions appear not to be applicable to those who access data stored at remote computing services without authorization.
I'm currently a graduate student of the history of law and technology at the University of California, San Diego. I also provide law and technology consulting services.
Additionally, I'm a non-practicing lawyer and former developer/sysadmin at a biotech non-profit. For more about me and my work, see 
