Law / United States / North Carolina
North Carolina Computer-Related Crime Act (unauthorized access and computer trespass)
N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-453 to 14-458; § 1-539.2A
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 December 1999.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not use a North Carolina computer or computer network without the owner's authorization, or beyond the scope of authorization granted, to remove, disable, or alter data, cause a malfunction, damage property, or make an unauthorized copy of computer data, programs, or software.
- Do not access a computer, including a government computer, without authorization to defraud or to obtain property or services by false pretenses; accessing a government computer without authorization for any other purpose carries heightened felony exposure.
- A person you access without authorization can bring a civil action against you for damages, including lost profits, plus the costs of suit.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
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.
North Carolina's computer-related crime statute, Article 60 of Chapter 14, defines authorization by reference to the computer owner's consent, not exceeding the scope of that consent, a standard closer to the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act's without-authorization and exceeds-authorized-access tests than to Virginia's narrower malicious-intent-or-deception requirement.
Computer trespass under section 14-458 makes it unlawful to use a computer or computer network without authority and with intent to make an unauthorized copy of computer data, programs, or software residing in, communicated by, or produced by a computer or network, reaching unauthorized automated copying of data from a website. A violation is a Class 3 misdemeanor, rising to a Class 1 misdemeanor or a Class I felony depending on the dollar value of resulting property damage.
A separate offense, section 14-454, criminalizes accessing a computer without authorization to defraud or to obtain property or services by false pretenses, as a Class 1 misdemeanor or a Class G felony depending on the value obtained. Accessing a government computer without authorization for any other purpose is a Class H felony under section 14-454.1, rising above the analogous private-computer offense's misdemeanor default.
Anyone injured by a violation of the computer trespass statute may bring a private civil action for damages, including lost profits, under section 1-539.2A.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official text, North Carolina General Assembly (ncleg.gov), General Statutes by section