Page:Computer Misuse Act 1990.pdf/13

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Computer Misuse Act 1990
c. 1811
“(1) A magistrates’ court for a county division in Northern Ireland may hear and determine a complaint charging an offence under section 1 above or conduct a preliminary investigation or preliminary inquiry into an offence under that section if—
(a) the accused was in that division at the time when he did the act which caused the computer to perform the function; or
(b) any computer containing any program or data to which the accused secured or intended to secure unauthorised access by doing that act was in that division at that time.”;

and subsection (6) shall be omitted.

(11) The reference in section 12(3) to section 6(3) of the 1967 c. 58.Criminal Law Act 1967 shall be read as a reference to section 6(2) of the 1967 c. 18 (N.I.).Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.

(12) In section 14—

(a) the reference in subsection (1) to a circuit judge shall be read as a reference to a county court judge; and
(b) the reference in subsection (2) to section 9(2) of the 1984 c. 60.
S.I. 1989/1341 (N.I. 12).
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 shall be read as a reference to Article 11(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

Interpretation. 17.—(1) The following provisions of this section apply for the interpretation of this Act.

(2) A person secures access to any program or data held in a computer if by causing a computer to perform any function he—

(a) alters or erases the program or data;
(b) copies or moves it to any storage medium other than that in which it is held or to a different location in the storage medium in which it is held;
(c) uses it; or
(d) has it output from the computer in which it is held (whether by having it displayed or in any other manner);

and references to access to a program or data (and to an intent to secure such access) shall be read accordingly.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(c) above a person uses a program if the function he causes the computer to perform—

(a) causes the program to be executed; or
(b) is itself a function of the program.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d) above—

(a) a program is output if the instructions of which it consists are output; and
(b) the form in which any such instructions or any other data is output (and in particular whether or not it represents a form in which, in the case of instructions, they are capable of being executed or, in the case of data, it is capable of being processed by a computer) is immaterial.