Law / United States / 
Delaware
Delaware Computer Crime (unauthorized access, with a private civil right of action)
Del. Code tit. 11, §§ 932, 939, 941
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In force since 20 July 1984.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 29 August 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access a Delaware-connected computer system knowing you lack authorization to do so; an openly served page carries no obvious authorization barrier, but this statute's own text does not resolve the question for a public page.
- Defeating a technical access control, such as a rate limit, IP block, or CAPTCHA, exposes you to a private civil suit under section 941, including treble damages for willful conduct, not only to criminal liability.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 932 provides that a person is guilty of the computer crime of unauthorized access to a computer system when, knowing that the person is not authorized to do so, the person accesses or causes to be accessed any computer system without authorization, near-verbatim identical to Connecticut's statute and sharing the same undefined authorization concept the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) carries.
Section 939 grades penalties by dollar value and section 939(h) fixes the value of private personal data at $500 for grading purposes, a lower figure than Connecticut's $1,500.
Distinctively, section 941 creates an express civil right of action for any aggrieved person, recoverable in the Court of Chancery (injunction, restitution, receivership) or at law (actual damages, damages for unjust enrichment, and treble damages where there has been a showing of wilful and malicious conduct), plus attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff, with a three-year discovery-based limitations period.
This private right of action is broader than the parallel Connecticut statute, which carries no equivalent civil-remedy section, and it means a scraper defeating a technical access control in Delaware faces private civil exposure, not only prosecutorial risk.
Sections 931-941 were enacted together by 64 Del. Laws c. 438, approved July 20, 1984; the enrolled act's own text of section 932 reads identically in substance to the current codification (only a later gender-neutral pronoun update was made), so the section dates to its original 1984 commencement.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official text, Delaware Code Online (delcode.delaware.gov)
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.