[plug] (off-topic) Law regarding hacking

[Paul Baumgarten]

I was wondering if anyone knew how the law stands in respect to hacking and
the like (and if you can quote relevant sections of legislation)?

I have seen on the telnet login screens of various systems a warning like
this:

> WARNING: It is a criminal offence to:
> i. Obtain access to data without authority (Penalty 2 years imprisonment)
> ii Damage, delete, alter or insert data without authority (Penalty 10
years imprisonment)

However after searching the Commonwealth Criminal Code and the WA Criminal
Code it appears as if the above statement only holds true for offenses
against Commonwealth computers or Commonwealth data on non-Commonwealth
Computers even though I have seen it appear as a message on systems that
wouldn't meet this criteria.  (Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914 Sections 76A to
76F)

All I have found in the WA Criminal Code is Section 440A "Unlawful operation
of a computer system" which provides for a penalty of 1 year or $4000 for
unlawful access to information in a restricted access computer system.

If anyone is able to shed any addition light on how the law stands in this
regard it would be much appreciated.

Paul Baumgarten (email: paul at kcc.wa.edu.au)
Information Systems Manager
Kingsway Christian College
157 Kingsway, Landsdale, WA, 6065
Ph: +61 8 9409 7078
Fx: +61 8 9409 6179