SUMMARY OFFENCES ACT 1953 - SECT 44

SUMMARY OFFENCES ACT 1953 - SECT 44

44—Unlawful operation of computer system

        (1)         A person who, without proper authorisation, operates a restricted-access computer system is guilty of an offence.

        (2)         The maximum penalty for an offence against subsection (1) is as follows:

            (a)         if the person who committed the offence did so with the intention of obtaining a benefit from, or causing a detriment to, another—$2 500 or imprisonment for 6 months;

            (b)         in any other case—$2 500.

        (3)         A computer system is a restricted-access computer system if—

            (a)         the use of a particular code of electronic impulses is necessary in order to obtain access to information stored in the system or operate the system in some other way; and

            (b)         the person who is entitled to control the use of the computer system has withheld knowledge of the code, or the means of producing it, from all other persons, or has taken steps to restrict knowledge of the code, or the means of producing it, to a particular authorised person or class of authorised persons.