North Carolina General Statutes 14-454. Accessing computers
(a) It is unlawful to willfully, directly or indirectly, access or cause to be accessed any computer, computer program, computer system, computer network, or any part thereof, for the purpose of:
(1) Devising or executing any scheme or artifice to defraud, unless the object of the scheme or artifice is to obtain educational testing material, a false educational testing score, or a false academic or vocational grade, or
Attorney's Note
Under the N.C. Gen. Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class G felony | between 8 and 31 months | |
| Class 1 misdemeanor | up to 120 days |
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 14-454
- Access: means to instruct, communicate with, cause input, cause output, cause data processing, or otherwise make use of any resources of a computer, computer system, or computer network. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Authorization: means having the consent or permission of the owner, or of the person licensed or authorized by the owner to grant consent or permission to access a computer, computer system, or computer network in a manner not exceeding the consent or permission. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Computer: means an internally programmed, automatic device that performs data processing or telephone switching. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Computer network: means the interconnection of communication systems with a computer through remote terminals, or a complex consisting of two or more interconnected computers or telephone switching equipment. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Computer program: means an ordered set of data that are coded instructions or statements that when executed by a computer cause the computer to process data. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Computer system: means at least one computer together with a set of related, connected, or unconnected peripheral devices. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Property: includes financial instruments, information, including electronically processed or produced data, and computer software and computer programs in either machine or human readable form, and any other tangible or intangible item of value. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
- Services: includes computer time, data processing and storage functions. See North Carolina General Statutes 14-453
(2) Obtaining property or services other than educational testing material, a false educational testing score, or a false academic or vocational grade for a person, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises.
A violation of this subsection is a Class G felony if the fraudulent scheme or artifice results in damage of more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or if the property or services obtained are worth more than one thousand dollars ($1,000). Any other violation of this subsection is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
(b) Any person who willfully and without authorization, directly or indirectly, accesses or causes to be accessed any computer, computer program, computer system, or computer network for any purpose other than those set forth in subsection (a) above, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
(c) For the purpose of this section, the phrase “access or cause to be accessed” includes introducing, directly or indirectly, a computer program (including a self-replicating or a self-propagating computer program) into a computer, computer program, computer system, or computer network. (1979, c. 831, s. 1; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 19; 1981, cc. 63, 179; 1993, c. 539, s. 293; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 764, s. 1; 2000-125, s. 4.)