Does he have a valid defense? Explain your answer fully

An employee was about to be let go from his job as a computer data processor at a large company. Before he left, he changed the passwords on his hard drive to prevent his employer from accessing the encrypted data and the company had no way of retrieving the data without the password, which the employee would not disclose. The employee left the company and was charged under the statute that provides: unauthorized access of a computer is unlawful. Access is defined ‘to instruct, communicate with, store data in, retrieve data from, or otherwise make use of the computer." At the time of the changing of the passwords, the former employee had authorization to access the computer.
What will be an ideal response?


ANSWER: Answers may vary: At the time the employee changed the password, he had authorized access and so did not violate the statute and committed no crime.

Criminal Justice

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