The basic offence under this act is, to attempt or achieve access to a computer or the data it stores, by inducing a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access.
The precondition to liability is to be aware that the access attempted is unauthorised.
Thus the following activities may constitute the offence:
- To use another person’s username and password without lawful authority or consent to access data or a program.
- To alter, delete, copy or move a program or data.
- To impersonate that other person using e-mail, on line chat or other web based services.
So, in practical, you might be criminally liable if you commit any of the previous. If in doubt, ask!
