A simplified legal analysis of the Cyber Crimes Law: Section Eight

Sep 03, 2014 adminl Articles, Free Tribune of Lawyers, Human Rights Education 0

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The Punishment:

There are two types of punishments for this crime and these are applicable in three ways:

1. The punishment of this crime could be imprisonment from one year to five years.

2. The punishment of this crime could be fine from 20 million rials up to 100 million rials. According to Article 54 of this law, the amount of the fine can be changed every three years, according to the rate of the inflation, by a proposal by the Head of the Judiciary and approved by the cabinet ministers.

3. The punishment of this crime could be both of these penalties.

Article 7: “If anyone knowingly uses some forged data, or cards or chips, he will be sentenced to the punishments stipulated in the above Article”

The subject matter of the crime in Article 7 is using false and forged data or electronic cards or chips.

The meaning of electronic cards is documents such as bank and credit cards, cards used for unlocking doors, etc…

The chip is a piece of electronic hardware and has a large number of transistors.

The knowledge and awareness of the perpetrator for using forged data or card or chip is an important and essential requirement for the actual realization of the crime. The perpetrator will not be covered by the definition of this crime if he does not know that the data or chip or … are forged and claims that he used the devices thinking that they were the original chip or electronic card.

The punishment:

The punishment for this crime is similar to the crime of forgery and there is no difference with the punishment for data forgery.

Article 8: “If anyone deletes or destroys or corrupts, or renders unusable, another person’s data without legal permission, he will be sentenced to imprisonment from six months up to two years or cash fine of 10 million rials to 40 million rials, or both of these punishments.”

The subject matters of the above Article is deleting, destroying, corrupting, damaging or making unusable another person’s data on computer and telecommunications systems.

The constituent features of the element of conduct in this crime are:

*Deleting others’ data without legal permission.

*Deleting others’ data carriers without legal permission.

*Corrupting others’ data without legal permission.

*Corrupting others’ data carrier without legal permission.

*Disrupting others’ data without legal permission.

* Disrupting others’ data carrier without legal permission.

*Making others’ data non-usable without legal permission.

* Making others’ data carriers non-usable without legal permission.

For the realization of the crime, it is necessary that the perpetrator knows that the data belong to another person. The crime does not occur if the perpetrator does not know that the data belongs to another person, and believing that the data was his own, he corrupts, deletes or disrupts them. Also, the crime does not materialize in practice if deleting or corrupting of another person’s data was authorized by law.

Therefore, there are two essential requirements for the realization of the crime of Article 8; that is deleting, damaging or corrupting another person’s data or data carriers:

The first: the data must belong to another.

The second: the perpetrator must know that the data belong to others.

The third: the perpetrator deletes or corrupts or disrupts or makes it non-usable without legal permission.

The forth: the perpetrator deletes or corrupts or disrupts or makes the others’ data or data carriers non-usable by intent and on purpose.

The punishment:

There are two types of punishments for this crime and these are applicable in three ways:

1. The punishment of the crime could be imprisonment from six months to two years.

2. The punishment of the crime could be a fine from 10 million rials up to 40 million rials. According to Article 54 of this law, the amount of the fine can be changed every three years based on the rate of inflation, through a recommendation by the Head of the Judiciary and the approval of the Government Cabinet.

3. The crime could receive both these punishments.

Article 9: “If anybody unlawfully disables or disrupts the computer or telecommunication systems or electromagnetic or optic waves, through actions such as entering, transferring, broadcasting, deleting, stopping, manipulating or corrupting them, he will be sentenced to imprisonment from six months up to two years or paying a fine from 10 million rials up to 40 million rials,  or both of these punishments”.

The subject matter of this Article is disabling, or disrupting the operation of, computer or telecommunication systems.

According to this Article, if someone commits some actions such as:

*Entering data or electromagnetic or optic waves

*Transferring data or electromagnetic or optic waves

*Broadcasting data or electromagnetic or optic waves

*Stopping data or electromagnetic or optic waves

*Manipulating data or electromagnetic or optic waves

*Corrupting data or electromagnetic or optic waves

Disables or disrupts the functioning of computer or telecommunication systems.

*For the actual realization of this crime, the perpetrator must know that the computer or telecommunication system belongs to someone else.

*The perpetrator should have no authorization for disrupting or disabling the functions.

*The perpetrator must be aware that his action leads to disabling or disruption of the computer or telecommunication systems or their functions.

*The perpetrator must know his action is a crime and disrupts or disables the functions of another person’s computer system intentionally.

The Punishment:

1. The punishment of the crime could be imprisonment from six months up to two years.

2. The punishment of the crime could be paying fine from 10 million rials to 40 million rials. According to the Article 54 of this law, the amount of the fine could be changed every three years based on the rate of inflation, by a proposal by the Head of the Judiciary and the approval of the Government Cabinet.

3. Both these punishments can be handed out to the perpetrator of this crime.

Article 10: “If anyone prevents the access of authorized individuals to the data or computer and telecommunication systems, by some measures such as hiding the data, changing the password or data encryption, he will be sentenced to imprisonment from 91 days to one year or to paying fine of between 5 million rials and 20 million rials, or both of these punishments.”

Preventing authorized individuals from accessing the data or computer and telecommunication systems is the subject matter of the crime mentioned in this Article.

Question: How is it possible to prevent individuals from access to data or computer and telecommunication systems?

Answer: The methods that have been mentioned in the body of the Article are:

*Hiding the data.

*Changing the Password.

*Encrypting data.

From the point of view of the legislator, any action that leads to prevention of access of authorized individuals to data or computer and telecommunication systems is a crime and according to this Article, they can be subjected to criminal prosecution.

The punishment:

The punishment could be imprisonment form 91 days up to one year or paying a fine from five million to 20 million rials.

Article 11: “If anyone, with the intent to endanger the safety, comfort and security of public, commits the actions that have been mentioned in Articles 8, 9 and 10 against the computer and telecommunication systems which are used to provide essential public services such as health care, water, electricity, gas, transport and banking, he will be sentenced to imprisonment from three years up to 10 years.”

The legislator has mentioned the crimes mentioned in Articles 8, 9 and 10 in relation to the computer and telecommunication systems which concern the essential public services.

Question: Which actions will lead to the materialization of the crime mentioned in Article 11 of the Cyber Crimes Law?

Answer: According to the content of Article 11, each of the following actions against computer or telecommunication systems that are related to the essential public services are crimes

*Disabling of computer and telecommunications systems or disrupting their function.

*Preventing the authorized individuals from accessing the data or computer or telecommunication systems.

*Deleting, corrupting, disrupting or making the data or computerized or telecommunication systems non-usable

Question: What is the subject matter of the crime mentioned in Article 11?

Answer: The subject matter of Article 11 is data and computer and telecommunication systems that are related to essential public services. This means someone who disables the computer or telecommunication systems that are related to the essential public services, or prevents the access of authorized individuals to that data or eliminates, corrupts, disrupts or renders unusable the data related to the essential public services.

Question:  What is the essential criterion for the realization of this crime?

Answer: The necessary condition for the realization of this crime is for the individual committing the above actions against computer and telecommunication systems which function in connection with the essential public services with intent and on purpose, to endanger the safety, comfort and security of the public. This means that the crime could not materialize if the perpetrator had no intent for endangering the safety, comfort and security of public.

Note: The perpetrator must know and be aware that the system is related to the essential public services. This means if the perpetrator did not know about the connection with the system and the essential public services, his actions will not necessarily be classed as crime.

For the crime to materialize in practice, it is necessary to prove that the perpetrator knew that the computer or telecommunication systems were related to the essential public services,  and he had the will and intent to endanger the safety and public peace and welfare.

The Punishment:

The punishment for this crime is imprisonment from three years to 10 years.

Article 12: “If anyone who steals another person’s data without permission while the original data are still available to their true owner, he will be sentenced to paying a fine from one million rials to 20 million rials, or to imprisonment from 91 days to one year or paying a fine of five million rials to 20 million rials, or both of these punishments.”

The subject matter of Article 12 of the Cyber Crime Law is computer-related theft

The legislator has predicted two situations for this offense:

The first situation: The content of the other person’s data is stolen but, the original data is available for its owner intact and unchanged. This means a situation when someone copies or downloads the other person’s data or their content without the permission of their owner . In this case, the original data is still available but the content of it is stolen. This action is a crime and the punishment is a cash fine of one million rials to 20 million rials.

The second situation: The contents of the data are stolen in addition to the original data and so, the original data are not available to their original owner. This means a situation where someone cuts or deletes another person’s data and adds them to his own data. The punishment of the perpetrator is imprisonment or paying fine or both.

Question: Someone enters the office or the house of another individual and steals some of the objects in the house or office and also the computer system and its hard disk and other additions, or might even take his laptop and all its accessories. Does this person commit the crime of robbery in addition to the crime of cyber theft because he has stolen the computer or laptop of someone else?

Answer: No. In your question, only the computer or the laptop have been stolen. The theft of a  computer or laptop on their own is just normal robbery of another person’s property. However, if by stealing the laptop, the perpetrator also manages to gain access into the data and content stored there, then his crime will come under cyber theft too.

Question: When someone copies or removes some data from another computer, with the permission of the data owner, and then enters it into his own computer, has he committed a cyber theft?

Answer: No. Such conducts will constitute the crime of computer theft when they take place without the permission of the data owner. In other words, one of the essential criteria which should be satisfied in the crime of theft is the absence of permission and consent from the victims.

Among the other criteria which have to be met for the crime of cyber theft to take place, one can mention the following:

– The perpetrator should be aware and conscious that the data in question belong to another person

–  The perpetrator embarks on his action with the intention of stealing, or in other words, in pursuit of the aim of accessing another person’s data and information, and making them his own property.

– The perpetrator must be aware and conscious that he is not authorized and allowed to access and take ownership of data which belong to other people.

Punishment:

As we said earlier, the law has envisaged two scenarios for the crime of cyber theft. The first one relates to cases where the perpetrator only steals the content of the data, and leaves the original data intact for the original owner. In this case, the punishment is only a cash fine. The second situation is when the perpetrator takes the data away and does not leave it for its owner. In this case, the guilty party can receive a prison term, or be ordered to pay fine, or receive both sentences.

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