4 ms·
Yes and no. The argument that it is a crime comes down to arguments around what constitutes 'unauthorised access'. As 'unauthorised access' to a computer syst
by joncrocks 10y ago
Yes and no.
The argument that it is a crime comes down to arguments around what constitutes 'unauthorised access'.
As 'unauthorised access' to a computer system is a crime, if you make your definition of 'authorised' "access subject to our terms of use" : Huzzah! Violating your terms of use is now a crime!
This all comes back to laws written in wooly "the courts will work it out" language.
- 08-15 10y agoI wonder if placing a cookie on my computer without prior written consent constitutes "unauthorized access". Class action anyone?
- Sean1708 10y agoIn Britain it's illegal for a website to store a cookie without informing you, so I have a feeling someone may have already tried this.
- AstralStorm 10y agoLikewise in EU.
- Silhouette 10y agoNo, it isn't. That's not what the infamous "cookie law" says, nor how it's been interpreted in practice by official regulators across the EU.
- Sean1708 10y agoWhat does it actually say?
- Silhouette 10y agoThe details are probably too complicated for an HN comment, but one point that sometimes gets missed is that you normally don't have the same disclosure/consent obligations for cookies that are essential to the normal operation of the site like login tokens or tracking what's in a shopping basket.
- roywiggins 10y agoIt's your own browser that interprets the header, saves the cookie, and passes it back to sites you visit. Passing a "here's a cookie" header to your machine doesn't, on its own, do anything. Your browser has to actively parse and store it.
- cgriswald 10y agoBy the same token, my sending an HTTP request to a server doesn't, on its own, do anything. Their server has to actively parse the request and send data.