Law / United States / New Hampshire
New Hampshire Computer Crime Statute
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 1986.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not knowingly access, or cause to be accessed, a computer or computer network you know you are not authorized to access.
- Do not knowingly make an unauthorized display, use, disclosure, or copy of data obtained through such access, even after collection; this can reach how you later use or share data taken beyond the scope of any authorization.
- Access to an unauthenticated public page is ordinarily treated as authorized by implied consent; New Hampshire has no case law establishing what notice, if any, revokes that implied consent for automated collection.
- A violation is graded by the dollar value of the property or computer services affected, from a misdemeanor up to a class A felony, with a possible fine of double your gain from the offense in place of the statutory cap.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
RSA 638:18 grades computer crime from a misdemeanor (value $1,000 or less) to a class B felony (value $1,000 to $1,500, or specified repeat conduct) to a class A felony (value over $1,500, or a prior conviction), and lets the court substitute a fine of up to double the defendant's gain from the offense. New Hampshire's general felony fine cap under RSA 651:2, IV(a) is $4,000 for an individual and $100,000 for a corporation or unincorporated association.
Penalty structure
Individual felony fine cap under the general schedule, RSA 651:2, IV(a); a corporation or unincorporated association is capped at $100,000. RSA 638:18, IV separately lets the court substitute a fine of up to double the defendant's gain from the offense, and a misdemeanor-grade violation (value $1,000 or less) carries the lower general misdemeanor caps instead of this felony figure.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Fixed cap
- 4,000
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
RSA 638:17, I makes it the computer crime of unauthorized access when a person, knowing they are not authorized, knowingly accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or computer network; affirmative defenses excuse a reasonable good-faith belief that the owner had authorized access, would have authorized it without payment, or that the access could not reasonably have been known to be unauthorized.
RSA 638:17, IV separately makes it misuse of computer information to knowingly make an unauthorized display, use, disclosure, or copy of data obtained through such access, which can reach downstream use of data taken beyond the scope of any authorization, not only the initial access itself.
RSA 638:16, II defines authorization as the express or implied consent of the computer's owner, so ordinary access to an unauthenticated public page is authorized unless and until that consent is withdrawn; no New Hampshire case addresses whether or how notice revokes implied authorization for automated collection specifically.
RSA 638:18 grades the offense by the dollar value of the property or computer services affected, from a misdemeanor at $1,000 or less up to a class A felony above $1,500 or on a repeat offense, and lets a court substitute a fine of double the defendant's gain from the offense; New Hampshire's general felony fine cap under RSA 651:2 applies where the offense does not itself state one.
When LexLint raises it
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