[LINK] Super fund security breach lands good Samaritan in hot water

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Wed Oct 19 09:42:24 AEDT 2011


At 9:16 +1100 19/10/11, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
>It is the Privacy laws that may have been breached - there isn't a general
>security law.

You wouldn't lose any sleep at night about having maybe broken a 
privacy law.  Vacuous Principles.  Applicable only to some agencies, 
some corporations, and some circumstances.  Full of exemptions 
anyway.  No sanctions.  No enforcement.

But there are indeed general security laws.

NSW Computer Crimes Act ss. 308-308I:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082/s308.html

In particular:
Unauthorised access, modification or impairment with intent to commit 
serious indictable offence
308C Unauthorised access, modification or impairment with intent to 
commit serious indictable offence
(1) A person who causes any unauthorised computer function:
(a) knowing it is unauthorised, and
(b) with the intention of committing a serious indictable offence, or 
facilitating the commission of a serious indictable offence (whether 
by the person or by another person),
is guilty of an offence.

So it's nice to be able to infer that, this time at least, the law is 
not an ass, but is set up appropriately, *and* the NSW Police knew 
that.

-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University



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