David and his legal team are not the only ones that think that this whole process is wrong.  Judges, lawyers and investigative reporters have all commented over the years on how so many aspects of this case are examples of abuses of the justice system, prosecutorial overreach and corporate bullying.  These are just some of their comments:

 

“Because Nosal’s accomplices had permission to access the company database and obtain the information contained within, the government’s charges fail to meet the element of ‘without authorization or exceeds authorized access.’”

Chief Judge Kozinski
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

 

“Korn/Ferry and its counsel’s employment of their overwhelming resources to persuade prosecutors to bring charges against an economic competitor has unhealthy ramifications for the legal system.”

“Nosal’s case illustrates some of the special dangers inherent in criminal laws which are frequently violated in the commercial world, yet seldom enforced.”

“This case is about password sharing. People frequently share their passwords, notwithstanding the fact that websites and employers have policies prohibiting it. In my view, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) does not make the millions of people who engage in this ubiquitous, useful, and generally harmless conduct into unwitting federal criminals. “

Judge Reinhardt
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

 

“It’s rare for such a high-profile example to go to trial, exposing behind-the-scenes details of how a matter shifts from a private business problem into a criminal prosecution backed by the full weight of the federal government.”

Vanessa Blum
Reporter for The Recorder

 

“When I first read about this case, my initial reaction was: Why is the government even charging Nosal with a crime? Isn’t this the sort of dispute that is the stuff of civil lawsuits, with legal teams charging the other side with engaging in civil torts or wrongdoing?”

Debra Saunders
Columnist for SF Chronicle

 

“Read broadly, the CFAA can be used to turn millions of ordinary computer users into criminals.”

Jamie Williams
Electronic Frontier Foundation

 

“The U.S. attorney’s office shouldn’t behave as the enforcement arm of a large corporate interest, particularly since “it’s doing so on the taxpayer’s dime. Ordinarily, these kinds of conflicts would be resolved in civil litigation,”

Graham Archer
Defense Lawyer

 

“Prosecutors love the CFAA, written three decades ago, because they can classify a broad range of computer activity we now consider normal as criminal — activity like sharing passwords. Services like Netflix and HBO Go have taken a hands-off approach to account sharing, but every one of these court cases makes what is now normalized computer usage a more precarious concern.”

Brian Feldman
Reporter for NY Magazine