Andrew Zangrilli on Snow v. DirecTV and the Stored Communications Act

Read Andrew Zangrilli’s commentary on the meaning of a recent 11th Circuit case, Snow v. DirecTV, which applied the Stored Communications Act to a case in which the plaintiff alleged that DirecTV got access to Snow’s bulletin boards without authorization. The company got access by completing a registration form, agreeing to the terms of access, which “requires the registrant to affirm his non-association with DirecTV”. It then was able to complete its investigation of Snow’s website which is apparently devoted to complaints about the company. Snow’s lawsuit alleged that his website was not intended to be accessible to the general public. However, the 11th Circuit noted that it employed only a self-screening mechanism. “Because this is insufficient to draw an inference that the website is not readily accessible to the general public, Snow’s complaint fails to state a cause of action and it was proper to dismiss it.” Read the ruling here. Zangrilli notes that webmasters who want to limit public access would do well to take affirmative steps to do so and not rely, in the court’s words, on “those who are not the website’s intended users [to] voluntarily excuse themselves”.