United States v. Monroe

Circuit Judge MAYER

delivered the opinion of the Court: 1

In the fall of 1995, an electronic mail host (EMH) resided on a computer owned by the United States Air Force at Osan Air Base, Korea, which allowed a user, through a log-on and a private password, to access the Defense Data Network and the Internet. Accounts were available for official business, although users were allowed to use them to send and receive limited textual and morale messages to and from friends and family. Each time a user logged on to the EMH at Osan, he received a banner message stating, “USERS LOGGING ONTO THIS SYSTEM…