[danielweber]

I see lots of computer people do this when discussing a legal case: break it down into little pieces and then insist that each individual piece isn't a crime. (I mentally call it decomposition but law students might have a better term.) Like there must be exactly one sudden event that snaps the behavior from legal to illegal.

They are right that usually each individual piece isn't a crime. But someone can perform 15 acts, each of which, in total isolation, would be legal, but end up in a significant illegal act. As that someone performs more and more of those acts, they move from legal behavior, to probably legal behavior, probably illegal behavior, to probably illegal behavior but with minuscule damages, to illegal behavior with serious damages.