Law / United States / 
Arizona
Computer tampering (Arizona's computer-misuse statute)
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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access an Arizona-connected computer, computer system, or network without authority or in excess of your authorization; paragraph 8 criminalizes bare unauthorized access even without any intent to defraud, damage, or disrupt.
- Nothing in this statute's own text exempts ordinary, non-disruptive automated access to a publicly available page from the authorization requirement, and no Arizona case confirms how that access is treated in a scraping context.
- Do not design a crawler or bot to prevent a user from exiting a site or a connected location in order to compel the user's device to keep communicating with or displaying your service.
- Do not access a computer, computer system, or network operated by the state, a political subdivision, a health care provider, or a clinical laboratory to obtain information required by law to be kept confidential or records that are not public records.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
A class 3 felony where the access is with intent to defraud (paragraph 1); a class 4 felony for knowing alteration, contamination, or reckless disruption (paragraphs 2 through 4), rising to a class 2 felony where the target is a critical infrastructure resource; a class 5 felony for the reckless harassment-type paragraph (paragraph 5); and a class 6 felony for the confidential-information and bare unauthorized-access paragraphs (paragraphs 7 and 8).
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Subsection A makes it computer tampering for a person, acting without authority or in excess of authorization of use, to do any of eight listed things: paragraphs 1 through 5 require an added mental state such as intent to defraud, knowing alteration or destruction of data, or reckless disruption, but paragraph 8 separately criminalizes knowingly accessing any computer, computer system, network, software, program, or data at all, with no further intent element beyond knowledge and lack of authority, a bare unauthorized-access offense that is a class 6 felony on its own.
Paragraph 6 criminalizes preventing a user from exiting a site or connected location in order to compel the user's device to keep communicating with or displaying the service, and a violation of that paragraph is also an unlawful practice under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, enforceable by the Attorney General in addition to any criminal prosecution.
Paragraph 7 reaches knowingly obtaining confidential or non-public information by accessing a computer operated by the state, a political subdivision, a health care provider, or a clinical laboratory.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official Arizona Revised Statutes text, Arizona State Legislature website
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.