Law / United States / Connecticut

Connecticut Computer Crimes (unauthorized use of a computer or computer network with intent to copy, alter or disable)

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53-451

In force since .

A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.

Audit expectation
none

What it requires

  • Do not use a computer or computer network without the owner's right or permission, or in a manner exceeding it, with the intent to make an unauthorized copy of its data, to cause it to malfunction, or to alter or erase its data or software; the statute defines being without authority by the owner's permission and states no knowledge element.

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

What record it asks for

Logging duty

Section 53-451 defines the offences of unauthorized use of a computer or computer network with a listed intent (b) and of selling or distributing software built to falsify e-mail routing information (c), sets the criminal penalty (d), and leaves contract and license terms undisturbed (e). It requires no one to create, keep, produce or review a log or record, and it has no territorial clause.

Kind
None
As of

What this law does

Drafted with AI

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page. How this site is made

Research summary

Legal information, not legal advice. This is LexLint's own research summary of a public legal source, and it creates no attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, consult qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. About LexLint

Section 53-451(b) makes it unlawful for any person to use a computer or computer network without authority and with the intent to do any of several things. One of them is to make or cause to be made an unauthorized copy, in any form, of computer data, computer programs or computer software residing in, communicated by or produced by a computer or computer network.

A person is without authority when the person has no right or permission of the owner to use a computer or uses a computer in a manner exceeding such right or permission (subsection (a)(14)(A)), a test that turns on the owner's permission and states no knowledge element. A person uses a computer or computer network when the person attempts to cause or causes it to perform or to stop performing computer operations (subsection (a)(13)(A)).

A violation is a class B misdemeanor, with higher grades where reckless or malicious actions cause damage of more than $2,500 to the property of another person (subsection (d)). Nothing in the section is to be construed to interfere with or prohibit terms or conditions in a contract or license related to computers, computer data or computer services (subsection (e)).

Section 53-452 gives a person whose property or person is injured by a violation a civil action in the Superior Court to enjoin further violations and to recover actual damages, which include loss of profits, and the costs of the action. That action must be brought within two years from the date of the act complained of (section 53-452(f)). The official annotations to section 53-451 list no decision construing it.

Public Act 99-160 enacted the section, and its official source line records no effective date of its own, so the general rule for the effective date of a Connecticut public act applies (section 2-32 of the General Statutes: the first day of October following the session at which it was passed), and the section commenced .

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