CDA - Offences IIIUnauthorised Access to Data

• Computer specific

• “any person who without lawful excuse operates a computer…with intent to access data…whether or not he access any data…shall be guilty of an offence”

• Is all activity criminal?

Previous slide

Next slide

Back to first slide

View graphic version

Unlike rest of the act

To catch an intruder who doesn’t cause damage

Potential for everything to be criminal ‘without lawful excuse’

As ‘data’ includes programs, then merely connecting to an Internet host (and accessing inetd) could be criminal (in loosest interpretation) Unknown how broad an interpretation will be used by the courts.