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Computer Crime Laws

The trouble with the current legal situation is that we the people are consistently electing moronic legislators who are ruining the country by trying to save it.

We now have so many laws, no normal human can know them all -- much less follow them all.

In 1748, Montesquieu wrote in De L'Esprit des Lois "Useless laws weaken the necessary laws." Today, we have so many useless laws that the government and police do not have the resources to enforce the necessary laws. The accepted solution, of course, is to raise our taxes.

Ayn Rand foresaw a more sinister purpose when she wrote, in 1957, "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."

You will have to decide for yourself whether stupidity or avarice for power is responsible for our current legal mess.

That stated, here are the laws you are most likely to run afoul of:

U.S. Code Title 17 Copyrights
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, Section 1029 Fraud and related activity in connection with access devices
U.S. Code Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 47, Section 1030 Fraud and related activity in connection with computers
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 65, Section 1362 Communication lines, stations or systems
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113, Section 2318 Trafficking in counterfeit labels for phonorecords, copies of computer programs or computer program documentation or packaging, and copies of motion pictures or other audio visual works, and trafficking in counterfeit computer program documentation or packaging.
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113, Section 2319 Criminal infringement of a copyright.
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113, Section 2319A Unauthorized fixation of and trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of live musical performances.
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 119 Wire and Electronic Communications Interception and Interception of Oral Communications
U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 121, Section 2701 Unlawful access to stored communications
U.S. Code Title 18, Part II, Chapter 206, Section 3121 General prohibition on pen register and trap and trace device use; exception

If you eventually screw up, you will become intensely interested in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that Relate to Computer Intrusions and the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Proposed Amendments to the Guidelines tht Relate to Computer Intrusions (Effective November 1, 2003).

Discuss Computer Crime Laws in the forums.