WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is limiting prosecutors’ ability to use an anti-hacking law to charge people with computer crimes. The court vote 6-3 to overturn the conviction of a police sergeant who used a work database to run a license plate search in exchange for money. The justices ruled Thursday that prosecutors had overreached in using the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to charge him. Lawyers for the police sergeant warned that if the court ruled against him it make a federal crime out of using a computer for virtually any unauthorized purpose, including checking sports scores. The court agreed. The majority opinion was written by the newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett.
