Middleton

ORDER ON MOTIONS

Defendant has made several motions, which have been opposed, briefed, argued, and submitted for decision.

The indictment charges one count, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030 (a)(5)(A). That section provides that whoever “knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer” is guilty of a crime.

I.

Defendant first moves to dismiss the indictment on the ground that its allegations are insufficient. The charging indictment closely tracks the language of the statute quoted above. It then goes on to charge that “defendant knowingly transmitted code and commands to a computer system of an Internet Service Provider within the Northern District of California, a computer system that was then used in interstate and foreign commerce, and that as a result of such conduct the defendant intentionally caused damage without authorization, and that damage caused a loss aggregating at least $5,00 during a one-year period____” The dispute is over the sufficiency of the allegation of damage.

The term “damage” for purposes of Section 1030(a)(5)(A)…