In general, computer crime is a term that covers a variety of crimes involving internet or computer use that may be prosecuted under state or federal laws. Because of the rise in computer crimes, California state laws include provisions that prohibit these violations. In addition, other states have passed computer crime statutes in order to address this problem.
What is a computer crime?
An individual who accesses a computer, computer system or computer network and alters, destroys, or disrupts any of its parts is considered a perpetrator of computer crime. The charge is selected based upon the intention of unlawful access. Hacking is the breaking into a computer, computer system, or computer network with the purpose of modifying the existing settings under malicious intentions. Unlawful or unauthorized access means that there is trespassing, storing, retrieving, changing, or intercepting computer resources without consent. Viruses, or other contaminants, include, computer code that modify, damage, or destruct electronic information without the owner’s permission. This often disrupts the operations of a computer, computer system, or network. As such, Congress enacted the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in order to regulate computer fraud and to expand laws against it. This federal statute provides that “whoever knowingly and with intent to defraud, accesses a protected computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value, unless the object of the fraud and the thing obtained consists only of the use of the computer and the value of such use is not more than $5,000 in any 1-year period” shall be punished accordingly.