Privacy Law Library

Virginia Computer Crimes Act (privacy provisions: computer invasion of privacy, keystroke loggers, spam)

VA Computer Crimes Act

Data security · Marketing · Communications

Virginia's computer crime law makes it a crime to use a computer to examine another person's employment, salary, credit, financial, or identifying information without authority, to install keystroke-logging software on another's computer, and to forge routing information to send spam. Injured people can sue for damages.

Where

Virginia

Citation

Va. Code §§ 18.2-152.1 to 18.2-152.15, esp. §§ 18.2-152.3:1, 18.2-152.4(A)(8), 18.2-152.5, 18.2-152.12

Status

In force

In force since

1984-07-01

Last amended

2010-07-01

Enforced by

Criminal prosecution; injured persons and email service providers by civil action (18.2-152.12)

People can sue

Yes

Penalties

Computer invasion of privacy is a Class 1 misdemeanor, a Class 6 felony if repeated, sold, or used in another crime (18.2-152.5); spam header forgery is a misdemeanor or felony by volume (18.2-152.3:1). Civil damages including lost profits; for spam, the lesser of $10 per message or $25,000 per day for individuals, or $1 per recipient or $25,000 per day for providers (18.2-152.12).

Applies to

• Any person using a computer or network in Virginia, including senders of commercial email through Virginia email service providers