trivia

[Martin Keegan]

On Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Charles Lindsey wrote:

> > (b) sends by those means, for the purpose of causing annoyance,
> > inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, a message that he knows to
> > be false or persistently makes use for that purpose of a public
> > telecommunication system, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on
> > summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

Does the Internet count as a public telecommunication system for the
purposes of that section of the Act?
 
> Hey! Could that be used against trolls such as Caruthers Carstairs
> McKraken? It sure looks easier to invoke than that toothless Computer
> Misuse Act.

The CMA is far from toothless. According to my reading of CMA1990, if I
have a computer and a VCR, and I authorise you to use neither, you commit
a criminal offence by using the computer, but not the VCR. I'd much prefer
it if only the legislature could determine what amounted to criminal
behaviour, and didn't delegate that to my local sysadmin.

Mk