Law / United States / Maine

Criminal invasion of computer privacy

17-A M.R.S. § 432

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.

A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 6 September 2026.

What it requires

  • Do not intentionally access a Maine-connected computer resource while knowing you are not authorized to do so; the statute states a bare authorization test with no separate requirement of malicious intent, deception, or resulting damage.
  • A violation is a Class D crime, carrying imprisonment of less than one year and a fine of up to $2,000.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

Criminal invasion of computer privacy under 17-A M.R.S. § 432 is a Class D crime, punishable by imprisonment of less than one year (17-A M.R.S. § 1604(1)(D)) and a fine of up to $2,000 (17-A M.R.S. § 1704(4)).

Penalty structure

Maximum fine for a Class D crime under 17-A M.R.S. § 1704(4); the statute also authorizes imprisonment of less than one year under § 1604(1)(D), tracked in criminal_exposure_note rather than as a monetary figure.

Rule
Fixed only
As of
6 September 2026
Currency
USD
Fixed cap
2,000

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.

A person is guilty of criminal invasion of computer privacy, a Class D crime, if the person intentionally accesses any computer resource knowing that the person is not authorized to do so. The statute states a bare authorization test with no separate requirement of malicious intent, deception, or resulting damage, so an intentional, knowing, unauthorized access alone completes the offense; no exception for a publicly accessible page is stated in the text.

When LexLint raises it

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Read the law

official text, Maine Revised Statutes (legislature.maine.gov)

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