Law / United States / Alabama
Alabama Digital Crime Act, Computer Tampering
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 August 2012.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Ordinary access to a public-facing Alabama website is not, by itself, computer tampering; a violation requires acting without authority or exceeding authorization of use, and separately doing one of the eight listed acts such as altering, damaging, disclosing, taking, or disrupting a computer, program, or data.
- Because exceeding authorization of use is defined as using access you do have to obtain or alter information you are not entitled to obtain or alter, do not use a login or other legitimate access to a computer, computer system, or network to take or alter data beyond what you are authorized to take or alter.
- Penalties escalate with harm: the base offense is a Class A misdemeanor, an unlawful-benefit or defraud intent raises it to a Class C felony, a victim loss over $2,500 or interference with a government or utility service raises it to a Class B felony, and a victim loss over $100,000 or physical injury raises it to a Class A felony.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Base offense is a Class A misdemeanor; a Class C felony where intent is to defraud, benefit, or harm; a Class B felony where victim expenditure exceeds $2,500, an intended interruption reaches a government or utility service, or the violation touches Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center or Alabama Justice Information Commission data; a Class A felony where victim expenditure exceeds $100,000 or the violation causes physical injury to an uninvolved person.
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.
A person who acts without authority or who exceeds authorization of use commits computer tampering by knowingly doing one of eight things: accessing and altering, damaging, or destroying a computer, program, or network; altering, damaging, deleting, or destroying data; disclosing, using, controlling, or taking programs, data, or documentation; introducing a virus; disrupting or denying computer or network services; preventing a user from exiting a site or connection; obtaining confidential information or non-public records from a government or medical computer system; or giving out a password or other security credential without consent.
Exceeds authorization of use is separately defined as accessing a computer with actual or perceived authorization and then using that access to obtain or alter information the accessor is not entitled to obtain or alter.
The base offense is a Class A misdemeanor; it rises to a Class C felony where the actor intends an unlawful act, benefit, defraud, or harm; to a Class B felony where a victim's expenditure exceeds $2,500 or the intended interruption reaches a government or utility service, and separately where the violation touches Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center or Alabama Justice Information Commission data; and to a Class A felony where a victim's expenditure exceeds $100,000 or the violation causes physical injury to an uninvolved person.
This statute replaced the prior Alabama Computer Crime Act (1985), whose intellectual-property offense provision was repealed by the same 2012 Act.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official text, Code of Alabama (alison.legislature.state.al.us)