Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
302 F.3d 868 (2002)
Robert Konop (plaintiff), a Hawaiian Airlines (defendant) pilot, ran a password-protected website criticizing the airline, controlling who could register and log in. He had granted access to fellow pilot Gene Wong, and a Hawaiian executive got Wong's permission to use Wong's name and password to view the site. After Hawaiian's president saw the site and objected to Konop's statements, Konop sued, alleging Hawaiian's viewing and disclosure of the site's contents violated the federal Wiretap Act as amended by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).
Whether website data must be acquired during transmission, rather than while in electronic storage, for the access to constitute an unlawful interception under the Wiretap Act.