Criminal Law and Computer Crime

Define what constitutes a computer crime and how such a crime is prosecuted in court.

Criminal laws punish serious offenses against society. Under the criminal laws, the government, acting through a prosecutor who appears before a court, can convict a suspect such that he obtains a record as a criminal and can be subject to penalties such as monetary fines and incarceration.

When is it that the government should have the power to convict someone as a criminal, strip him of his liberty and lock him in prison for breaking into a computer system? All criminal convictions, whether computer-related or otherwise, must rest upon a particular, preexisting law making the person's actions a crime. Typically, this preexisting ...

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