Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Offence to misuse another person's NRIC or email address

Some people think that it is fun to create mischief by misusing another person's NRIC to log into SingPass or to use the other person's email address to register into a mailing list.

They may not be aware that they are committing an offense under the Computer Misuse Act:

It is a crime for the mischievous person to try to access my account.

https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/CMA1993

Quote:
Unauthorised access to computer material
3.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), any person who knowingly causes a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority to any program or data held in any computer shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
(2) If any damage is caused as a result of an offence under this section, a person convicted of the offence shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years or to both.
[21/98]
(3) For the purposes of this section, it is immaterial that the act in question is not directed at —
(a)any particular program or data;
(b)a program or data of any kind; or
(c)a program or data held in any particular computer.

Unquote

This is similar to vandalism. The actor may think that he (or she) will not be caught by vandalising another person's property. But when he is caught and sent to jail, he will regret it.

The best way to stop this misuse and mischief is for the authority to catch the mischievous act and charge the person in court.

We need our law to be enforced, so that people will pay attention to it. If not, it becomes a useless law.

Tan Kin Lian

Tan Kin Lian

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