A US Court of Appeals has said that Hawaiian Airlines may be held
liable for allegedly gaining unlawful access to a secure web site
set up by one of its pilots that criticised the management
practices of his employers.
Bloomberg News reports that this is the first time that a court
has ruled in the US that accessing a private web site without
permission may violate the country’s Wiretap Act and/or the Stored
Communication Act.
According to the pilot, Robert Konop, the airline viewed his
secure site under false pretences and gained unauthorised access to
its content by using another pilot’s name to enter. The court in
San Francisco reversed a federal judge’s opinion, and stated
that:
“the contents of secure web sites are
electronic communications in intermediate storage that are
protected from unauthorised interception under the Wiretap
Act.”
