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Legally Defining "Unauthorized" Computer Access
SDuane writes "Orin S. Kerr, Associate Professor at George Washington University Law School, has written an article trying to answer the question "what does it mean to 'access' a computer? And when is access 'unauthorized'?" It's long, but interesting and he's looking for feedback."
Does /.'ting a server count as unauthorized use? Because then, we should be a bit worried here...
"Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
..but the computer can't say no, I thought it wanted me to access it, honest!
posting "1 4/\/\ 0wnz0ring j00!!!!!! luser!!!! FEE KEVIN" on their website, qualifies.
If RIAA comes looking for the MP3's that aren't on my computer and in the process even look at a single byte of the copyrighted data on my hard drive, that is unauthorized. BTW, that data is available under perfectly reasonable license terms. I charge $1/Kb. I have 2 80Gb drives. The $160,000,000 is payable in advance, thank you.
hmm... I don't think you were supposed to download Matrix 2. please expect our agents to arrive shortly.
Since when does an articles length matter?? Nobody reads them anyway, this is /. :)
Woah, there. Ethernet is serial, I have an Ethernet connection from my NAT box to my cable modem. Therefore I only have one PC communicating with (AKA "hooked up to") the ISP at at time.
HA!
-Peter
Logging onto the internet is sort of like putting your house in the middle of a city, with all the doors and windows open, then letting random strangers walk through your house, along with the people you "want" to walk through your house. Your gonna have a hard time keeping people out of your bed room........
"Much work is lost, for the lack of a little more." -Edward H. Harriman
Access is a noun. Hence one can perform an act which becomes illegal access, one can grant or revoke access, but one cannot access something anymore than one can plane, car, or fireplug.
/. about grammar is about as pointless as crying "Dupe"
Of course, bitching on
But what the hell, I do that too.
--
Claus
The hackers are either with us or against us. We will fight this war on hax0rism, and we shall be victorious. Do not destroy important files, a source of data that belongs to the user.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Did he forget to return a library book?
Does the title to this article sound like what Bill Clinton once said
"That depends on what the definition of the word 'is' is.
Spooky
Ethernet is serial, I have an Ethernet connection from my NAT box to my cable modem.
just be careful that the ISP doesn't put limits on the number of times per second that you can switch computers
"Yeah, I only have one computer hooked to the cable modem at a time. I just switch them 2^20th times per second..."
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
Um, you haven't met many lawyers, then?
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
1. Put up a website on the net
2. Wait for 100 hits
3. Sue the 100 people who visited your site for $50,000 each, claiming that you didn't give them authorization to access your computer. Profit!
SYN: (may I access this tcp port?)
SYN ACK: (sure go ahead!)
ACK: (thanks!)
>> LAST ROUTER IN THE CHAIN WAS THE COMPUTER
>> THAT ACCTUALLY ACCESSED IT!
What I vaguely remember from law class was that a person can be found guilty if they started the chain of events that lead to the ultimate result.
Of course this only goes back so far as I guess if I commited the crime my dad/mom ultimately started the chain of events which included my birth... or is it my grandparents?
Back to the concept of original sin. Its all Eve's fault.
Well God created Eve and the apples, so really it is his fault.
So what if there is no God? Who do we blame? Personally I say we blame Canada. (yes i'm in canuck land)