Definition
Plain language
The U.S. law that makes unauthorized computer access a crime.
As stated in the literature
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the principal U.S. federal anti-hacking statute, relevant to AI agents that scrape, bypass authentication, or access systems without authorization.
Also called: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Why it matters: It defines the legal boundary autonomous agents must stay inside when they touch external systems, making 'the agent did it' an inadequate defense.
For example, an AI agent that guesses a password to log into someone else's account to scrape data could expose its operator to CFAA liability.