Scottish Law Commission Report
Scottish Law Commission
Report on Computer Crime No. 174 of 1987
Computer Crime (Scotland) Bill 1987
1.(1) A person commits an offence if, not having authority to obtain
access to a program or data stored in a computer, or to a part of such
program or data, he obtains unauthorised access in order to inspect or
otherwise to acquire knowledge of the program or the data or to add to,
erase or otherwise alter the program or the data with the intention -
(a) of procuring an advantage for himself or another person; or
(b) of damaging another person's interests.
[Recommendations 5, 6 and 7]
(2) A person commits an offence if, not having authority to obtain access
to a program or data stored in a computer, or to a part of such program or
data, he obtains such unauthorised access and damages another person's
interests by recklessly adding to, erasing or otherwise altering the
program or the data.
[Recommendations 5, 7 and 10]
(3) For the purposes of this section, a person does not have authority to
obtain access to a program or data stored in a computer, or to a part of
such program or data, if he does not have the authority of a person
entitled to control such access.
[Recommendation 9]
(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, a person
shall not commit an offence under this section if he obtains such access as
aforesaid in pursuance of a warrant issued by the Secretary of State under
section 2 of this Act.
[Recommendation 10]
2.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Secretary of State may
issue a warrant requiring the person to whom it is addressed to obtain
access to a program or data stored in a computer, or to any part of such
program or data, for the purpose of acquiring information; and such a
warrant may also require the person to whom it is addressed to disclose
any information so acquired to such persons and in such manner as are
described in the warrant.
[Recommendation 13]
(2) The Secretary of State shall not issue a warrant under this section
unless he considers that the warrant is necessary -
(a) in the interests of national security;
(b) for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime; or
(c) for the purpose of safeguarding the economic well-being of the
United Kingdom.
[Recommendation 14]
(3) The matters to be taken into account in considering whether a warrant
is necessary as mentioned in subsection (2) above shall include whether the
information which it is considered necessary to acquire could reasonably
be acquired by other means.
[Recommendation 13]
(4) A warrant shall not be considered necessary as mentioned in subsection
(2)(c) above unless the information which it is considered necessary to
acquire is information relating to the acts or intentions of persons
outside the British Islands.
[Recommendation 13]
(5) A warrant under this section shall specify or describe an address or
addresses, being an address or addresses used, or likely to be used, to
accommodate a computer containing a program or data the examination of
which the Secretary of State considers necessary as mentioned in subsection
(2) above.
(6) Sections 4 to 10 of the Interception of Communications Act 1985 and
Schedule 1 of that Act shall, subject to the adaptations set out in the
Schedule of this Act, apply in relation to a warrant under this section.
3. A person guilty of an offence under this Act shall be liable -
(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory
maximum, or both; or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 5 years or to an unlimited fine, or both.
[Recommendation 11]
4. A court in Scotland shall have jurisdiction to entertain proceedings
for an offence under this Act if at the time the offence was committed -
(a) the accused was in Scotland; or
(b) the program or the data in relation to which the offence was
committed was stored in a computer in Scotland.
[Recommendation 17]
5.(1) This Act may be cited as the Computer Crime (Scotland) Act 1987.
(2) This Act shall come into force at the end of the period of 2 months
beginning with the day on which it is passed.
(3) This Act extends to Scotland only.
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