Law for Business 10th Edition by James Barnes,Terry Dworkin,Eric Richards

Exercise 3

Rob Morris was a grad student in computer science at Cornell who released a computer worm to demonstrate the security weaknesses in computer networks. The worm "worked" by exploiting the security defects that Morris had discovered. Morris soon discovered that the worm was replicating and reinfecting machines at a much faster rate than he had anticipated. The worm brought the Internet to its knees and affected computers at numerous installations, including universities, military sites, and medical research facilities. The estimated cost of dealing with the worm at each installation ranged from $200 to more than $53,000. Morris claimed that the worm was a benign experiment that got out of control as the result of a coding error. Ultimately, Morris was found guilty of violating a provision of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that punishes anyone "who intentionally accesses federal interest computers and damages or prevents authorized use of information in such computers, causing loss of $1,000 or more." Morris was sentenced to three years of probation, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $10,050, and the costs of his supervision. He appealed his conviction, arguing that the lower court got the "intent" requirement wrong. Morris maintained that to be found guilty, the government must prove not only that he intended the unauthorized access of a federal interest computer, but that he also intended to prevent others from using it. What should be the result?