Saint LuciaComputer Misuse Act, unauthorized access, interception and modification
In force since .
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- User location
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not cause a computer system to perform a function to secure access to, or to intercept, a program, data, or computer service, without authority.NIST AI RMFMAP 4.1
- Do not modify data held in a computer system without authorization, including to impair the system's operation or the reliability of the data it holds.no control in the NIST AI RMF
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control or exceeding a granted authorization has not itself been held to violate these provisions.
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, and in the NIST AI RMF, line by line beside each duty above. 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
Each offence carries, on summary conviction, a graduated fine and up to 18 months' imprisonment for a second or subsequent offence involving damage to the computer system or its data (ss. 5(2), 7(2), 8(2)).
Penalty structure
Sections 5, 7 and 8 each set a graduated fine, rising from $5,000-$10,000 (s. 5, first offence) or $10,000-$20,000 (ss. 7 and 8, first offence) to $20,000-$50,000 (all three sections, second or subsequent offence), with the higher figure in each band applying where the computer system was damaged, impaired, or its data suppressed or modified; $50,000 is the highest cap reached under any of the three sections, alongside up to 18 months' imprisonment.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- XCD
- Fixed cap
- 50,000
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Sections 5, 7 and 8 make unauthorized access to computer data, unauthorized access to and interception of a computer service, and unauthorized modification of computer material offences. It imposes no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record. Section 4 gives the Act reach over an act done in Saint Lucia, on a Saint Lucia ship or aircraft, or by a national abroad; the first limb is read as a presence test. The Act's investigation provisions in Part 3 (preservation order, collection of traffic data) are outside this row.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 5 prohibits knowingly and without lawful authority causing a computer system to perform a function to secure access to a program or data. Section 7 prohibits, by any means and knowingly, securing access without authority to obtain a computer service, or intercepting without authority any function of or data within a computer system.
Section 8 prohibits knowingly causing an unauthorized modification of data held in a computer system, including to impair the system's operation, hinder access to a program or data, or impair the reliability of data.
Each offence carries a graduated fine, rising for a second or subsequent offence and rising further where the computer system was damaged, impaired, or its data suppressed or modified, up to $50,000 and 18 months' imprisonment; because the trigger for each offence is that the access, interception, or modification be unauthorized or without authority, a scraper reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control or exceeding a granted authorization falls outside a plain reading of these provisions.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web or trains models.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .