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United States v. Ropp

347 F. Supp. 2d 831 (2004)

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United States v. Ropp

United States District Court for the Central District of California
347 F. Supp. 2d 831 (2004)

Facts

Larry Lee Ropp (defendant) installed a device called a KeyKatcher on a cable that connected a computer keyboard used by Karen Beck, an insurance company employee, to a central processing unit (CPU) of Beck’s computer. When Beck typed on her keyboard, the KeyKatcher recorded and stored the electronic impulses traveling through the cable. Then anyone who possessed the KeyKatcher installed on Beck’s system would be able to recover the stored electronic impulses and determine the messages Beck had typed. Because of this KeyKatcher installation, the United States government (plaintiff) indicted Ropp under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), specifically, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(1)(a), which criminalized unauthorized interception of electronic communications. Ropp moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that his conduct did not constitute interception of an electronic communication, because Beck’s system was not one that affected interstate or foreign commerce, as required by the ECPA’s definition of an electronic communication. The government opposed the motion and argued that since Beck’s system was connected to a computer network, her system did affect interstate commerce.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Feess, J.)

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