Computer Misuse Act 2000, Unauthorised Access
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 2 November 2000.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not cause a computer to perform a function to secure access to a program or data knowingly and without authority; authority turns on the consent of the person entitled to control access, not on whether a technical security measure was defeated.
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page has not itself been held to satisfy or fail this test, since no reported Trinidadian case has construed the authority element against a scraper of open web content.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Imprisonment of up to four years on a second or subsequent conviction (s. 3(1)), plus up to three years' additional imprisonment where damage results (s. 3(2)); an offence involving a protected computer carries up to ten years' imprisonment (s. 9).
Penalty structure
First conviction: fine of $15,000 and imprisonment for two years; second or subsequent conviction: fine of $30,000 and imprisonment for four years (s. 3(1)). Where damage results, an additional fine of $20,000 and imprisonment for three years applies (s. 3(2)). An offence involving a protected computer carries an enhanced penalty of $150,000 and imprisonment for ten years (s. 9).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 5 September 2026
- Currency
- TTD
- Fixed cap
- 30,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Access restriction
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 3(1) prohibits knowingly and without authority causing a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access to a program or data held in that computer or another one, on pain of a fine of $15,000 and imprisonment for two years, rising to $30,000 and four years on a second or subsequent conviction.
Section 2(2) defines access as unauthorised where the person is not entitled to control access of that kind and does not have the consent of the person who is; the offence does not require infringing a security measure, so it is drawn more broadly than a computer-misuse statute that turns on circumvention.
Section 3(2) adds a further fine and imprisonment where the access causes damage, and section 9 enhances the penalty to $150,000 and ten years' imprisonment where the offence involves a protected computer. No reported Trinidadian case construes whether reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control falls within the section absent the consent element being read narrowly.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_web