The Computer Misuse Act of1990

The Copyright, Designs & Patents Act of 1989

www.ICT-Teacher.com

• This section applies to current British legislation and its relationship to the Council of Europe Convention directives.

• Software and data misuse:

• Describe the provisions of the Computer Misuse Act.

• Describe the principles of software copyright and licensing agreements.

The Computer Misuse Act 1990

• The widespread use of computers and computer systems and the misuse of them in the 1980’s led to a law making it a criminal offence to do certain things.

• The Act covers a variety of misuses that couldn’t be covered by the existing laws of the time. These include:– Deliberate damage by planting viruses– Using computers to carry out unauthorised work– Copying computer programs– Hacking into a system to view private information– Various frauds including stealing money from banks

The Computer Misuse Act Covers:

• Unauthorised access to computer programs or data;

• Unauthorised access with a further criminal intent;

• Unauthorised modification of computer material (programs or data).

Three Specific Offences

• Section 1:– he/she causes a computer to perform any

function with the intent to secure access to any program or data held in that computer and:

– the access attempted to secure is unauthorised and:

– he/she knows at that time that it is unauthorised.

• The maximum prison sentence is 6 months.

Offences

• Section 2:– Committing an offence under section 1 with

the intent of committing a further offence such as blackmail, theft etc, even if they get someone else to do it for them.

• The maximum prison sentence is 5 years.

Offences

• Section 3:– Committing an offence under section 1 and

causing actual modification of the contents which results in:

– Any impairment of the operation of the computer– Prevention of access to a program or data– Impair the operation of a program or the

reliability of data.

• The maximum prison sentence is 5 years.

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989 covers:

• Illegal copying of software.

• Illegal running of copyright software on more than one machine unless covered by the licence.

• Illegal for an organisation to encourage or pressure its employees to copy of distribute illegal software.

Software Copyright

• The illegal copying of software• Illegal transmission of software over a

telecommunications line creating a copy.• What are the consequences of illegal use of

software?• Consider the writers, the manufacturers, and the

marketing companies.• Microsoft Office ’97 was copied and sold for £3

in Russia.• Data paid for and collected by one organisation

may be of value to other organisations.

Copying Software

• The copying of software is in breach of the licence you agree when you first load the program. This is policed by the local councils and the police.

• Software companies will take individuals or businesses to court if they find out that their copyright has been breached.

• The police are entitled to remove all equipment which has illegal software running on it. For a company this could mean the removal of the entire computer system and disastrous consequences for business. It normally would mean the business would collapse.

Licensing Agreements

• When buying a computer program you are buying the right to use it, not to own it.

• You are bound by the rules of the manufacturer.• There are different types of licensing

agreements: – public domain– shareware– demonstration

• The above are free to use but still come with restrictions, and almost always ban copying.

• What is: Public domain, Shareware, and Demonstration software?

• Are you able to legally copy your software program from your desktop to your laptop?

• When you upgrade your computer to a modern version do you need to buy the software again?

• Are you entitled to sell your copy of MS Excel to your friend, 1) if you have removed it from your computer; 2) if you have kept a copy on your computer?

Software Piracy

• Software piracy can be defined as "copying and using commercial software purchased by someone else".

• Software piracy is illegal. • Each pirated piece of software takes away from

company profits, reducing funds for further software development initiatives.