‘Unauthorised Use’ and Section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990

The withdrawal of charges against a reporter of the Independent, following the failed prosecution of a British Telecom employee illustrates the limitations of the carefully defined offence of ‘unauthorised access’, as provided by s. 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (the 1990 Act). It remains an oddity that the 1990 Act does little to regulate ‘unauthorised use’, as opposed to ‘unauthorised access’.