Law / United States / New Mexico
Computer Crimes Act, unauthorized computer use
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 knowingly, willfully and without authorization, or in excess of an authorization obtained, access, use, take, transfer, conceal, obtain, copy or retain possession of a computer, computer network, or computer property or service connected to New Mexico; a violation is graded by the dollar value of the resulting damage, from a petty misdemeanor at two hundred fifty dollars or less up to a second degree felony above twenty thousand dollars.
- Do not alter, damage, disrupt or destroy computer property or a computer service, or introduce data known to be false with intent to harm another's property or financial interests.
- Nothing in the Act's own text exempts ordinary, non-disruptive automated access to a publicly available page from the authorization requirement, and no New Mexico case confirms how automated access to a public page is treated under it.
- A person found guilty must also pay restitution for financial loss, in addition to any other punishment, forfeiture or fine.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle (Section 30-45-3), computer abuse (Section 30-45-4), and unauthorized computer use (Section 30-45-5) are each graded by the dollar value of the resulting damage: a petty misdemeanor at two hundred fifty dollars or less, a misdemeanor above two hundred fifty dollars but not more than five hundred dollars, a fourth degree felony above five hundred dollars but not more than two thousand five hundred dollars, a third degree felony above two thousand five hundred dollars but not more than twenty thousand dollars, and a second degree felony above twenty thousand dollars. Introducing false data with intent to harm under Section 30-45-4(B) is a fourth degree felony regardless of value.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
The Computer Crimes Act's definitions section, Section 30-45-2, defines access, computer, computer network, computer property, computer service and related terms broadly, and the Act then creates three offenses. Section 30-45-3 punishes computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle.
Section 30-45-4 punishes computer abuse: altering, damaging, disrupting or destroying computer property or a computer service, or introducing data known to be false with intent to harm another's property or financial interests.
Section 30-45-5 separately punishes unauthorized computer use: knowingly, willfully and without authorization, or exceeding the scope of an authorization obtained, accessing, using, taking, transferring, concealing, obtaining, copying or retaining possession of a computer, computer network, computer property, computer service or computer system.
Each of these three offenses is graded solely by the dollar value of the damage to the computer property or computer service, from a petty misdemeanor at two hundred fifty dollars or less through a misdemeanor, a fourth degree felony, a third degree felony, up to a second degree felony above twenty thousand dollars; the Act does not add a separate, higher-graded bare-access offense the way some peer states do.
Section 30-45-6 allows prosecution under other law in addition to the Act and requires restitution for financial loss in addition to any other punishment. Section 30-45-7 subjects computer property, equipment, materials, conveyances and proceeds used in a violation to forfeiture under the Forfeiture Act.
No New Mexico case was located applying the Act to an automated web-scraping or bulk-data-collection fact pattern, and nothing in the Act's text exempts ordinary, non-disruptive automated access to a publicly available page from the authorization requirement.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_web
Read the law
New Mexico Statutes Annotated text, FindLaw mirror
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