Brunei DarussalamComputer Misuse Act, unauthorised access to computer material
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived . Publisher's page: https://www.agc.gov.bn/AGC%20Images/LOB/pdf/Computer%20Misuse.pdfIn force since .
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Operator establishment
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not cause a computer to perform a function for the purpose of securing access to a program or data without authority, meaning without the entitlement to control that access and without the consent of a person who holds that entitlement.
- Whether reading a publicly accessible, unauthenticated page fits this section's authorisation test has not been tested in a reported Brunei decision.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 4.1Approaches for mapping AI technology and legal risks of its components – including the use of third-party data or software – are in place, followed, and documented, as are risks of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
A first conviction carries a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both; a second or subsequent conviction up to $10,000 and 3 years; and, where the offence causes damage, up to $50,000 and 7 years (s. 3(1)-(2)). Section 9 substitutes a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to 20 years where the access reached a protected computer.
Penalty structure
Section 3(1): a first conviction is fined up to $5,000 with up to 2 years' imprisonment, or both; a second or subsequent conviction up to $10,000 and 3 years. Section 3(2): where the offence causes damage, up to $50,000 and 7 years. Section 9(1): where the access reached a protected computer in the course of an offence under sections 3, 5, 6 or 7, the penalty is instead a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to 20 years, the highest figure recorded here.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- BND
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 3 makes it an offence knowingly to cause a computer to perform a function to secure access without authority to a program or data. They impose no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record. Section 11(2) applies the Act where the accused was in Brunei Darussalam or the computer, program or data was there; the limb that turns on where the computer or data sits is not coded.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 3 prohibits knowingly causing a computer to perform a function for the purpose of securing access, without authority, to a program or data held in any computer, with access being without authority where the person is not entitled to control access of that kind and has no consent from someone who is.
A first conviction carries a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both, rising to $10,000 and 3 years for a second or subsequent conviction, and to $50,000 and 7 years where the offence causes damage (s. 3(2)); where access to a protected computer, one used for defence, a confidential law-enforcement source, essential infrastructure, or public safety, is obtained in the course of this or certain other offences, section 9 substitutes an enhanced penalty of up to $100,000 and 20 years.
The Act's authorisation test turns on entitlement to control access rather than on infringing a technical security measure, and no reported Brunei decision has tested whether reading a public, unauthenticated page fits it.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web or trains models.
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