Estructura típica del delito de intromisión informática

Abstract

In Chile, courts have applied different criteria to establish when accessing a computer system qualifies as unauthorized, varying the understanding from the circumvention of technical barriers to mere contravening the data owner's will expressed in contractual clauses. These different standards have their origin in the legal framework that punishes illegal access, which contains reference neither to the data owner's will nor to the circumvention of technical barriers. Before resolving this discussion, this article briefly explains the legal situation in Germany and Spain, using those countries' law for comparison in order to highlight some controversial points of this kind of crimes. Then, this article establishes some limits for illegal access to computer systems under the Chilean criminal law.