715.4 Prohibitions — transmission and use of software.

It is unlawful for a person who is not an owner or operator of a computer to transmit computer software to such computer knowingly or with conscious avoidance of actual knowledge, and to use such software to do any of the following:

1. Modify, through intentionally deceptive means, settings of a computer that control any of the following:

a. The internet site that appears when an owner or operator launches an internet browser or similar computer software used to access and navigate the internet.

b. The default provider or internet proxy that an owner or operator uses to access or search the internet.

c. An owner’s or an operator’s list of bookmarks used to access internet sites.

2. Collect, through intentionally deceptive means, personally identifiable information through any of the following means:

a. The use of a keystroke-logging function that records keystrokes made by an owner or operator of a computer and transfers that information from the computer to another person.

b. In a manner that correlates personally identifiable information with data respecting all or substantially all of the internet sites visited by an owner or operator, other than internet sites operated by the person collecting such information.

c. By extracting from the hard drive of an owner’s or an operator’s computer, an owner’s or an operator’s social security number, tax identification number, driver’s license number, passport number, any other government-issued identification number, account balances, or overdraft history.

3. Prevent, through intentionally deceptive means, an owner’s or an operator’s reasonable efforts to block the installation of, or to disable, computer software by causing computer software that the owner or operator has properly removed or disabled to automatically reinstall or reactivate on the computer.

4. Intentionally misrepresent that computer software will be uninstalled or disabled by an owner’s or an operator’s action.

5. Through intentionally deceptive means, remove, disable, or render inoperative security, antispyware, or antivirus computer software installed on an owner’s or an operator’s computer.

6. Take control of an owner’s or an operator’s computer by doing any of the following:

a. Accessing or using a modem or internet service for the purpose of causing damage to an owner’s or an operator’s computer or causing an owner or operator to incur financial charges for a service that the owner or operator did not authorize.

b. Opening multiple, sequential, stand-alone advertisements in an owner’s or an operator’s internet browser without the authorization of an owner or operator and which a reasonable computer user could not close without turning off the computer or closing the internet browser.

7. Modify any of the following settings related to an owner’s or an operator’s computer access to, or use of, the internet:

a. Settings that protect information about an owner or operator for the purpose of taking personally identifiable information of the owner or operator.

b. Security settings for the purpose of causing damage to a computer.

8. Prevent an owner’s or an operator’s reasonable efforts to block the installation of, or to disable, computer software by doing any of the following:

a. Presenting the owner or operator with an option to decline installation of computer software with knowledge that, when the option is selected by the authorized user, the installation nevertheless proceeds.

b. Falsely representing that computer software has been disabled.

2005 Acts, ch 94, §4; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §192, 257

Referred to in §715.6