                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS; COMPUTER CRIMES (§ 18.2-152.2)

For purposes of this article:		&#8220;Commercial electronic mail&#8221; means
electronic mail, the primary purpose of which is the advertisement or promotion
of a commercial product or service.		&#8220;Computer&#8221; means a device that
accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a result
based on a sequence of instructions. Such term does not include simple
calculators, automated typewriters, facsimile machines, or any other specialized
computing devices that are preprogrammed to perform a narrow range of functions
with minimal end-user or operator intervention and are dedicated to a specific
task.		&#8220;Computer data&#8221; means any representation of information,
knowledge, facts, concepts, or instructions which is being prepared or has been
prepared and is intended to be processed, is being processed, or has been
processed in a computer or computer network. &#8220;Computer data&#8221; may be
in any form, whether readable only by a computer or only by a human or by
either, including, but not limited to, computer printouts, magnetic storage
media, punched cards, or stored internally in the memory of the
computer.		&#8220;Computer network&#8221; means two or more computers connected
by a network.		&#8220;Computer operation&#8221; means arithmetic, logical,
monitoring, storage or retrieval functions and any combination thereof, and
includes, but is not limited to, communication with, storage of data to, or
retrieval of data from any device or human hand manipulation of electronic or
magnetic impulses. A &#8220;computer operation&#8221; for a particular computer
may also be any function for which that computer was generally
designed.		&#8220;Computer program&#8221; means an ordered set of data
representing coded instructions or statements that, when executed by a computer,
causes the computer to perform one or more computer operations.		&#8220;Computer
services&#8221; means computer time or services, including data processing
services, Internet services, electronic mail services, electronic message
services, or information or data stored in connection
therewith.		&#8220;Computer software&#8221; means a set of computer programs,
procedures and associated documentation concerned with computer data or with the
operation of a computer, computer program, or computer
network.		&#8220;Electronic mail service provider&#8221; (EMSP) means any person
who (i) is an intermediary in sending or receiving electronic mail and (ii)
provides to end-users of electronic mail services the ability to send or receive
electronic mail.		&#8220;Financial instrument&#8221; includes, but is not
limited to, any check, draft, warrant, money order, note, certificate of
deposit, letter of credit, bill of exchange, credit or debit card, transaction
authorization mechanism, marketable security, or any computerized representation
thereof.		&#8220;Network&#8221; means any combination of digital transmission
facilities and packet switches, routers, and similar equipment interconnected to
enable the exchange of computer data.		&#8220;Owner&#8221; means an owner or
lessee of a computer or a computer network or an owner, lessee, or licensee of
computer data, computer programs or computer software.		&#8220;Person&#8221;
shall include any individual, partnership, association, corporation or joint
venture.		&#8220;Property&#8221; shall include:

1. Real property;

2. Computers and computer networks;

3. Financial instruments, computer data, computer programs, computer software
and all other personal property regardless of whether they are:
			a. Tangible or intangible;			b. In a format readable by humans or by a
computer;			c. In transit between computers or within a computer network or
between any devices which comprise a computer; or			d. Located on any paper or
in any device on which it is stored by a computer or by a human; and

4. Computer services.
			&#8220;Spam&#8221; means unsolicited commercial electronic mail. Spam shall
not include commercial electronic mail transmitted to a recipient with whom the
sender has an existing business or personal relationship.			A person
&#8220;uses&#8221; a computer or computer network when he attempts to cause or
causes a computer or computer network to perform or to stop performing computer
operations.			A person is &#8220;without authority&#8221; when he knows or
reasonably should know that he has no right, agreement, or permission or acts in
a manner knowingly exceeding such right, agreement, or permission.

HISTORY: 1984, c. 751; 1999, cc. 886, 904, 905; 2000, c. 627; 2003, cc. 987,
1016; 2005, cc. 761, 812, 827; 2009, cc. 321, 376; 2010, c. 489.