Lex Ferenda

Via slashdot, more fun and games relating to using an open wifi connection (or ‘unauthorised access’ as some like to call it). I wrote about this in some detail a while back, and this case (albeit with different legislation) is a useful reminder that these issues won’t go away. (Although, if we heed what Panorama is saying (story passed on off-blog by Eoin), no-one should be hanging around hotspots anyway!)

From the news reports, I see this gem:

Milanowski didn’t immediately cite or arrest Peterson, mostly because he wasn’t certain a crime had been committed. “I had a feeling a law was being broken,” the chief said.

Hmm.

I think this is the relevant legislation:

A person shall not intentionally and without authorization or by exceeding valid authorization do any of the following:

(a) Access or cause access to be made to a computer program, computer, computer system, or computer network to acquire, alter, damage, delete, or destroy property or otherwise use the service of a computer program, computer, computer system, or computer network.

(Source, what I think is relevant is italicised)

And the Irish legislation is even more (unintentionally) hostile…

Worth keeping an eye on all this.

Because there’s an election on, if you haven’t heard.

Just a note. There is a moratorium on discussion of elections on TV and radio: (self-imposed in the case of) RTÉ and (BCI-imposed in the case of) private independent broadcasters are affected. Given that people who should know better apparently don’t, let me clarify:

a - this is not legislative in nature (’self-denying ordinance’ is a good phrase)
b - it has no impact on print.
c - it has no impact on the Internet. That includes things like videos. Most broadcasters apply the moratorium to the text elements of their websites (voluntarily). And this is not a complicated issue of cyberlaw. It’s simply

For the 1,000 people who are going to stop me and say something smart-assed, there is no restriction on campaigning the day before an election (maybe if RTÉ shut up counting down to the moratorium this wouldn’t be such a misconception!). (This one is a close cousin of the supposed law that you are not allowed to leaflet on election day. Not true. There’s a restriction on activities in the vicinity of a polling station but there’s certainly no such thing as a general rule (although of course people are free to declare a ‘truce’ if they wish).

I had my second stint on Today FM talking about other areas of electoral law (polling day procedures, ID, fraud etc). It’s at the end of this clip. One thing I couldn’t recall at the time was the exact nature of prosecutions to date under the Electoral Act - turns out it seems the only completed conviction was this poor fool, who got an €800 fine for double voting. So let me say it here - again and again - you do not need a polling card to vote. It is a useful thing - reminds you of time, place etc and that you’re on the register - but it is not mandatory. (You do need to be on the register, and to have adequate ID, of course).