SingaporeComputer Misuse Act, Unauthorised Access to Computer Material
Computer Misuse Act 1993 (Cap. 50A), s. 3 (Unauthorised Access to Computer Material)
In force since .
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- User location, Place of effect
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not cause a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access to a program or data without authority, meaning without being entitled to control that access and without the consent of a person who is so entitled.
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control has not itself been held to violate this section.
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
Criminal exposure note
Section 3(1): a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or both on a first conviction, rising to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or both on a second or subsequent conviction. Section 3(2): where damage is caused as a result of the offence, a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 7 years or both.
Penalty structure
Section 3 sets three escalating tiers rather than one flat cap: a first conviction under s.3(1)(a) draws a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or both; a second or subsequent conviction under s.3(1)(b) draws a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or both; and where the offence under s.3(2) causes damage, the fine rises to not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 7 years or both. The highest of these three tiers is the damage-caused fine under s.3(2).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- SGD
- Fixed cap
- 50,000
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 3 creates the offence of knowingly causing a computer to perform a function to secure access without authority to a program or data, with its penalties, and states no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record. Section 13(3) brings an offence under the Act within Singapore's jurisdiction when the accused was in Singapore at the material time or the offence causes, or creates a significant risk of, serious harm in Singapore; those two limbs are the hook, and the limb that turns on the computer, program or data being in Singapore has no value in the vocabulary and is not coded.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 3(1) makes it an offence for any person to knowingly cause a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority to any program or data held in any computer, punishable on a first conviction by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or both, and on a second or subsequent conviction by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or both.
Where the offence causes damage, section 3(2) raises the penalty to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 7 years or both. Access is unauthorised under section 2(5) where the person is not entitled to control access of that kind and has no consent from someone who is so entitled; no reported Singapore decision has tested whether reading a public, unauthenticated web page without defeating any access control falls within this offence. The Act commenced on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web or trains models.
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