IT fought the Law and the Law won.

[Cpt.Spazmo]

The Police and Justice Bill, an update to the existing Computer Misuse Act (UK), unfortunately may well make it an offence to have tools that might also be used by a cracker on your computer. The fact that you might want to use those tools to monitor the safety of your computer system is irreverent. This includes network monitoring tools and even scripting languages.

"Perl on your machine, Sir? We'll slap the cuffs on now then."*

For more info:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39270045,00.htm



* This is off course factious. No officer would now would refer to a member of the public as sir, from recent camera-follow-the-police-shows and personal observations overly aggressive "hey you" and "mate" would seem to be the terms in vogue with our erstwhile public servants while they go about their, admittedly unpleasant and sometimes dangerous, duty.

 

[Haven]

Does it make it an offence for me to have tools that could be used for network scannning/hacking/cracking on YOUR computer though

 

[Cpt.Spazmo]

My computer resides within my sphere of influence, is therefore on another planet and out of jurisdiction

 

[Wraith]

Does it make it an offence for me to have tools that could be used for network scannning/hacking/cracking on YOUR computer though

It would probably work the same way as all the other computer laws, meaning he'd get busted instead of you (in the same way as your employer would be liable if you downloaded illegal stuff onto your comp at work).

Wraith