The CFAA is probably a good place to start, since its concept of a "protected computer" essentially covers every computer on the internet, and its definition of

The CFAA is probably a good place to start, since its concept of a "protected computer" essentially covers every computer on the internet, and its definition of authorized/unauthorized access is quite vague, and so left open to interpretation through case law. And there haven't been so many cases, so the precedent on many things is unclear. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act Try (a)(2)(C) on for size. If you have a jailbroken phone, its manufacturer might claim that you have unauthorized access to information on a protected computer, even if you are its owner (that's exactly what Sony argued against George Hotz, and they settled out of court, so we'll never know what the courts would have said about that argument). If you have any computer in your house that you modified in a way the manufacturer did not authorize, similar arguments may apply.