Dutch Court Rules WiFi Hacking Not a Criminal Offense

loekessers writes "Breaking in to an encrypted router and using the WiFi connection is not an criminal offense, a Dutch court ruled. (Original article in Dutch; English translation.) WiFi hackers can not be prosecuted for breaching router security. The judge reasoned that the student didn't gain access to the computer connected to the router, but only used the router's internet connection. Under Dutch law, breaking into a computer is forbidden. A computer in The Netherlands is defined as a machine that is used for three things: the storage, processing and transmission of data. A router can therefore not be described as a computer because it is only used to transfer or process data and not for storing bits and bytes. Hacking a device that is no computer by law is not illegal, and can not be prosecuted, the court concluded. "

Re:Where is the line?

[cappp]

The court's ruling itself can be found here [googleusercontent.com]. It's a little wonky linguistically and the frames are messy, but scroll down and you'll find some really interesting details. For your question it seems the court considered two factors - was it a computerised device (which the translation makes difficult to establish...seemingly could be read either way) and second, was there an intrusion which exposed personal data. Since the latter didn't occur it doesn't matter if the former is true.

As for other details, the case involves a guy posting a threat - on 4chan - to commit a school shooting and apparantly hacked the Wifi as a little camo'.

Re:Where is the line?

[Anonymous Coward]

You keep repeating that, it makes you look dumb. There is no confidence involved because the two parties have had no communication. There's also no profit involved. You also look retarded for quoting a dictionary as opposed to the relevant Dutch law. I'd even be willing to cut you some slack if you had a layman's argument as to why this was so, but as is, you should put the crack pipe down.

Re:Where is the line?

[Anonymous Coward]

You all are completely missing the point. The point is that this sort of 'hacking' should not have jail time associated with it, especially if the perp is 14. This is a civil matter, not a criminal one. Y'know, like the fucking headline says.