Crimes Act 1961

Crimes against rights of property - Crimes involving computers

248: Interpretation

You could also call this:

"What words mean in the Crimes Act 1961 about computer crimes"

When you are reading about crimes involving computers in the Crimes Act 1961, you need to understand what some words mean. You will see the word "access" which means you can instruct, communicate with, or use a computer system in some way. This includes storing or getting data from the system.

The word "authorisation" means you have permission to do something, and this permission can come from a law, a court, or another rule. You will also see the term "computer system" which refers to a computer, or multiple computers connected together, or the links between them. This term includes all the parts of the system, the software, and the data stored in it.

If you want to know more about these crimes, you can look at sections 249 to 254 which explain more about what these crimes are.

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This page was last updated on 4 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM330416.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal law

247: Punishment of receiving, or

"This law explains how people who keep stolen things can be sent to jail, with longer sentences for more expensive items."

249: Accessing computer system for dishonest purpose, or

"Using a computer to trick or cheat others for personal gain or to cause harm is against the law."

Part 10Crimes against rights of property
Crimes involving computers

248Interpretation

For the purposes of this section and sections 249 to 254,—
access, in relation to any computer system, means instruct, communicate with, store data in, receive data from, or otherwise make use of any of the resources of the computer system
authorisation includes an authorisation conferred on a person by or under an enactment or a rule of law, or by an order of a court or judicial process
computer system—
1. means—
  1. a computer; or
  2. 2 or more interconnected computers; or
  3. any communication links between computers or to remote terminals or another device; or
  4. 2 or more interconnected computers combined with any communication links between computers or to remote terminals or any other device; and
2. includes any part of the items described in paragraph (a) and all related input, output, processing, storage, software, or communication facilities, and stored data.

Notes

Section 248: replaced, on 1 October 2003, by section 15 of the Crimes Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 39).
Section 248: amended, on 31 July 2025, by section 64 of the Budapest Convention and Related Matters Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 39).
Section 248 authorisation: inserted, on 13 July 2011, by section 4(2) of the Crimes Amendment Act 2011 (2011 No 29).