Karistusseadustik (Penal Code) Section 217, Illegal Obtaining of Access to a Computer System
Karistusseadustik, RT I, 12.07.2014, 1, Section 217
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 1 January 2015.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not eliminate or avoid a technical means of protection, such as authentication, to obtain access to a computer system; Section 217 does not reach access to a system that carries no such protective measure.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Up to three years' imprisonment or a pecuniary punishment for illegally obtaining access to a computer system by eliminating or avoiding a means of protection (subsection 1); up to five years' imprisonment or a pecuniary punishment where the act causes significant damage, reaches a computer system holding a state secret, classified foreign information or official-use-only information, or reaches a computer system of a vital sector (subsection 2). A legal person is punished by a pecuniary punishment (subsection 3).
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Illegal obtaining of access to a computer system by elimination or avoidance of a means of protection is punishable by a pecuniary punishment or up to three years' imprisonment. The offense escalates to up to five years' imprisonment where the act causes significant damage, reaches a computer system holding a state secret or classified information, or reaches a computer system of a vital sector.
Because the base offense requires eliminating or avoiding an established means of protection, accessing a page that carries no such protection, the ordinary case of public-web crawling, does not fall within Section 217 on the text of the section alone.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_web
Read the law
Riigi Teataja, official English translation of the consolidated Karistusseadustik (Penal Code)