Computer Misuse History Lecture PDF

Computer misuse - history In this lecture we will discuss some of the reasons why a computer misuse act was deemed necessary through some illustration of past crimes in the area History of computer crime In the late 1960s and early 1970s saw “stealing” computer time emerge as an act on large...

Computer misuse - history In this lecture we will discuss some of the reasons why a computer misuse act was deemed necessary through some illustration of past crimes in the area History of computer crime In the late 1960s and early 1970s saw “stealing” computer time emerge as an act on large time-shared computers Digital property was not seen as of equal status to physical property First Computer Crime Law enacted in Florida in 1978 after a betting scam at Flagler Dog Track First country-wide law was enacted in Canada in 1983 History of UK Acts related to computer misuse Before 1990 criminal acts committed by computer were treated under the legislation relating to the crime itself Criminal Damage Act 1971 was used to charge defendants who had deliberately deleted data from magnetic discs Criminal damage had to be interpreted as damaging contents of discs rather than discs History of Acts related to computer misuse (con’t) Theft Act 1968 made abstracting of electricity a criminal act “A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.” This was initially considered as potential for charging computer misuse cases, but was deemed to be stretching Act too far History of Acts related to computer misuse (con’t) Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 was used against defendants in R v. Gold and Schifreen They had acquired passwords for British Telecom Prestel system and were initially convicted on nine counts of forgery On appeal conviction quashed: “We have accordingly come to the conclusion that the language of the Act was not intended to apply to the situation which was shown to exist in this case.” Charging someone who uses IT to commit a crime? Even now, many crimes using IT as a means of committing the actual crime, can still be charged under other laws A hacker may well be best charged under computer misuse law, but someone who commits forgery may well be still best charged under forgery legislation Nevertheless, some unique aspects of computer crime arguably merit a law that deals with them directly Towards the CMA... Act was deemed necessary to combat new range of potential crimes Response was Computer Misuse Act 1990 Defined three types of computer misuse offence Computer misuse offences 1. Unauthorised access to computer material 2. Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences. 3. Unauthorised modification of computer material