4 ms·

Depending on contract and jurisdiction, it might not at all be the clients property until fully paid, and it could be completely legal in some places. I know th

Depending on contract and jurisdiction, it might not at all be the clients property until fully paid, and it could be completely legal in some places. I know there are plenty of contracts (backed by law AFAIK) where complete ownership and all rights stays with the contractor until paid according to contract. However it would probably be hard to argue that you've actually made the final delivery, as you have to do another 'delivery' after receiving payment to not have the clients site fade away. In any case, it would obviously not change the fact that it would probably be a terrible idea to do something like this, ever.

dogma1138 10y ago
Yes, but what makes it complicated is where it is hosted, if it's hosted on a remote server you do not own you've committed trespassing and computer crime by accessing the network and server. In fact you have to be the sole owner of everything in that chain for this to be considered even remotely legal, this includes things like the domain and certificate. And even then it's not that simple since legal ownership isn't the only thing that plays a factor here since the client can claim beneficial ownership which grants them certain rights.