CRIMES ACT 1914 SECT 76D

(1)

A person who, by means of a facility operated or provided by the Commonwealth or by a carrier, intentionally and without authority obtains access to data stored in a computer, is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 6 months.

(2)

A person who:

(a)

by means of a facility operated or provided by the Commonwealth or by a carrier, with intent to defraud any person and without authority obtains access to data stored in a computer; or

(b)

by means of such a facility, intentionally and without authority obtains access to data stored in a computer, being data that the person knows or ought reasonably to know relates to:

(i)

the security, defence or international relations of Australia;

(ii)

the existence or identity of a confidential source of information relating to the enforcement of a criminal law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;

(iii)

the enforcement of a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;

(iv)

the protection of public safety;

(v)

the personal affairs of any person;

(vi)

trade secrets;

(vii)

records of a financial institution; or

(viii)

commercial information the disclosure of which could cause advantage or disadvantage to any person;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.

(3)

A person who:

(a)

by means of a facility operated or provided by the Commonwealth or by a carrier, has intentionally and without authority obtained access to data stored in a computer;

(b)

after examining part of that data, knows or ought reasonably to know that the part of the data which the person examined relates wholly or partly to any of the matters referred to in paragraph (2)(b); and

(c)

continues to examine that data;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.

(4)

For the purposes of an offence against subsection (1), (2) or (3), absolute liability applies to the physical element of circumstance of the offence, that the facility is operated or provided by the Commonwealth or by a carrier.

Note: For absolute liability , see section 6.2 of the Criminal Code .