(via Salon)

Lecturer Chip Pitts weighs in on the hacking allegations against the St. Louis Cardinals in this Salon article, and the federal laws that could apply in this situation. 

The case of compromised Houston Astros player intel is a federal investigation, not a baseball probe, says MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

That doesn’t mean he can’t hand down penalties as more information comes to light about whether St. Louis Cardinals employees hacked into a personnel database belonging to the Astros.

…

Laws that could apply in the situation include the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Economic Espionage Act, said Chip Pitts, a law school lecturer at Stanford. Pitts said it’s important for authorities to determine if this was a case of stealing trade secrets, or if there were other motives for the possible breach.

With sports franchises becoming increasingly reliant on data and technology, Pitts said the criminal investigation could be an attempt to prevent a cyber war from breaking out, putting every team at risk. Any penalties, he said, would have a deterring effect.

“Criminal penalties in our society — and all societies around the world — have a greater social stigma,” Pitts said. “It is significant that we’re talking about criminal penalties.”

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