Legal Analysis

Don’t Kill the Messenger: Reporting and Prosecuting Data Breaches

Using a news story of a Missouri governor not understanding technology properly as a catalyst, I created a research project that investigates the legality and responsibility of data breaches with respect to journalistic authority. In this case, the governor threatened legal action against a reporter who notified the state of a major security flaw in their Department of Education website that exposed personal information of thousands of educators. Key points included language used and what the legal basis for computer crimes is, and how these terms can fail to properly illustrate online infrastructure to an older panel of government officials.