full-disclosure - The BBC acquired a botnet, but was it legal?

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Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:52:20 +1100
From: "Ivan ." <ivanhec@...il.com>
To: full-disclosure <full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk>
Subject: The BBC acquired a botnet,
	but was it legal? - Update

According to Struan Robertson, a technology lawyer with Pinsent
Masons, in a posting on Out-Law.com, the BBC's statement that the
activity would only be illegal if those behind it had criminal intent
is not true. Robertson said "The BBC appears to have broken the
Computer Misuse Act by causing 22,000 computers to send spam. It does
not matter that the emails were sent to the BBC's own accounts and
criminal intent is not necessary to establish an offence of
unauthorised access to a computer". However, Robertson does not think
the BBC will be punished for the action "because the BBC's actions
probably caused no harm."

http://www.h-online.com/security/The-BBC-acquired-a-botnet-but-was-it-legal-Update--/news/112834

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