Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by fallingsquirrel 740 days ago
Do you think "but it was an accident" should be an accepted legal route to escape liability for your actions?
3 comments

Yes - the CFAA as a criminal issue requires "mens rea", the intention to commit a crime. Very few laws (such as involuntary manslaughter) have exceptions to this.

If you break someone's shit by accident, they can still sue you, and people should probably sue HP, but you can't try to have a prosecutor bring them to a criminal trial under the CFAA.

No, but it usually makes it civil liability and not criminal liability. For the most part (there are exceptions), you can't accidentally commit a crime.
For the CFAA? Absolutely.