Obama Justice Department Proposes Letting Employers Sue Employees Under RICO

The Obama Justice Department has a draft proposal for amendments to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Among them is to make violations of the CFAA a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act predicate.

It's pretty obvious that this proposal is meant as a retaliation against hacker groups like Anonymous and LulzSec. If it's not, then the timing couldn't be better. After all, the general public believes that these people do bad things and need to be burned at the stake, so why not nail 'em with RICO charges on top of CFAA charges?

The problem is that the justice system doesn't work that way. First, you have to be able to catch the offenders, and that seems to be quite a problem. Only then can you worry about what to charge them with.

But that's not the important part. What is important is the effect that these proposed amendments to 18 USC § 1030 would have on ordinary citizens.

Let's say your employer's internet usage policy specifically prohibits personal usage at work. However, like 99% (random, but plausible, number) of white-collar employees, you peek at Facebook, Twitter, or even your private email once, maybe twice, a month. You get fired, and your employer decides to sue you for the damages that your loss of productivity caused.

Naturally, you're charged with a federal criminal violation of the CFAA. However, under the proposal from the Justice Department, that criminal violation could become a predicate behavior for RICO. If you exhibit a pattern of committing the offense (and you arguably do if you commit the offense more than once), you're now subject to a RICO prosecution and your employer could possibly be awarded triple the amount of actual damages caused by your alleged loss of productivity.

But if you had just done it the old way via personal cell phone (not using your employer's WiFi), there likely would not have been any criminal charges; you'd probably on have to face state-level civil torts.

Obama is supposedly on the side of aiding and protecting employees. But why is his administration proposing changes to the law that hurt employees?

Call your Congressmen and Senators and let them know that it is in their best interest to stand against such an atrocious expansion of the CFAA. The CFAA is already far too broad.