German Computer Crime Law

    This is an unauthorized english translation of the relevant
    sections (articles) of German computer crime law
    (from the Strafgesetzbuch, i.e. Criminal Law)

    Criminal Law

    Sec. 202a - Data spying

        Anybody who without authority procures himself or another
        data which are not meant for him and which are specially
        secured against unauthorised access shall be sentenced to
        imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or to a fine.

    Sec. 202a.2 Data within the meaning of Subsection (1) shall be deemed
        to be only those which are stored or transmitted
        electronically, magnetically, or in any other not directly
        perceptible way.

    Sec. 203 - Violation of private secrets

        Anybody who without authority discloses another's secret,
        especially one relating to the personal sphere of life or
        an industrial or business secret that has been entrusted
        to him or has otherwise become known to him in his
        capacity as

        1.  physician, dentist, veterinarian, dispensing chemist
            or member of another healing profession requiring
            state regulated training for the exercise of the
            profession or for the bearing of the professional
            title,

        2.  professional psychologist with a state recognised
            scientific final examination,

        3.  lawyer, patent agent, notary public, defence counsel
            in proceedings regulated by law, certified public
            accountant, sworn auditor, tax adviser, authorised tax
            agent, or an organ, or member of an organ, of a
            society of certified public accountants, auditors, or
            tax advisers,

        4.  marriage, family, educational, or youth counsellor as
            well as addiction counsellor at a counselling agency
            that is recognised by public authority or by a
            corporation, institution, or foundation of public law,

        4a. member or agent of a recognised counselling agency
            under Sec. 218b (2) (No. 1),

        5.  state recognised social worker or state recognised
            social educationalist or

        6.  member of an enterprise of private health, accident,
            or life, insurance or of an accounting office for
            private physicians,

        shall be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding one year
        or to a fine.

        (2) Likewise shall be punished anybody who without authority
        discloses another's secret, especially one relating to the
        personal sphere of life or an industrial or business
        secret, that has been entrusted to him or has otherwise
        become known to him in his capacity as

        1.  holder of a public office,

        2.  a person with special obligations with regard to the
            civil service,

        3.  a person carrying out tasks or responsibilities under
            the Personnel Representation Law,

        4.  member of an investigation committee acting for a
            Federal, or State, legislative body or of any other
            committee or council who is not himself a member of
            the legislative body, or as an assistant of such
            committee or council, or

        5.  an officially appointed expert who has been formally
            obligated for the conscientious compliance with his
            duties on the basis of legal provisions.

        Equivalent to a secret within the meaning of Sentence 1
        shall be individual information concerning personal or
        factual circumstances of another that have been recorded
        for purposes of public administration; Sentence 1 shall
        not apply, however, where such individual information is
        disclosed to other public authorities or other agencies
        for purposes of public administration and this is not
        prohibited by law.

        (3) Equivalent to the parties mentioned in Subsec. (1) shall
        be their professionally active assistants as well as
        persons who are working with them while learning the
        profession. In addition, after the person charged with the
        duty of protecting the secret has died, anyone who has
        obtained knowledge of the secret from the deceased or from
        gis estate shall be deemed equivalent to the parties
        mentioned in Subsec. (1) and those mentioned in Sentence
        1.

        (4) Subsections (1 - 3) shall also apply where the offender
        without authority disclose another's secret after the
        latter's death.

        (5) If the offender discloses the secret for a consideration,
        or with the intention of enriching himself or another or
        to injure another, punishment shall be imprisonment not
        exceeding two years or a fine.

    Sec. 204 - Exploitation of another's secret

        (1) Anybody who without authority exploits another's secret
        especially an industrial or business secret which he is
        bound to keep confidential under Sec. 203, shall be
        sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding two years or to a
        fine.

        (2) Sec. 203 (4) shall apply accordingly.

    Sec. 205 - Request for prosecution

        (1) Offences referred to in Sections 201 (1,2) and 202a to 204
        shall be prosecuted only on request.

        (2) If the injured person dies, the right to file a request
        shall pass to the next of kin under Sec. 77 (2); this
        shall not apply to offences referred to in Sec. 202a
        If the secret does not relate to the personal sphere of life
        of the injured person, the right to file a request in case
        of offences under Sections 203 and 204 passes to the
        heirs. If the offender discloses or exploits the secret
        after the death of the person concerned in cases referred
        to in Sections 203 and 204, Sentences 1 and 2 shall apply
        mutatis mutandis.

    Sec. 263a - Computer fraud

        (1) Anybody who, with a view to procuring himself of a third
        person any unlawful property advantage, causes prejudice
        to the property of another by influencing the result of a
        data proceeding activity through improper program design,
        through the use of incorrect or incomplete data, through
        the unauthorised use of data, or otherwise through any
        unauthorised interference with the transaction, shall be
        sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding five years or to a
        fine.

        (2) Sec. 263 (2 - 5) shall apply accordingly.

    Sec. 269 - Forgery of probative data

        (1) Anybody who, for the purpose of committing a deception in
        legal transactions, stores or alters probative data in
        such a way that a false or altered document would be
        present if the data were perceived, or makes use of data
        so stored or altered, shall be sentenced to imprisonment
        not exceeding five years or to a fine.

        (2) The attempt shall be punished.

        (3) Sec. 267 (3) shall apply.

    Sec. 270 - Deception in legal transactions in connection with data
               processing

         Improperly interfering with a data processing activity in
         legal transactions shall be equivalent to deception in legal
         transactions.

    Sec. 303a - Alteration of data

        (1) Anybody who unlawfully deletes, suppresses, renders
        useless, or alters data Sec. 202a (2)) shall be sentenced to
        imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or to a fine.

        (2) The attempt shall be punished.

    Sec. 303b - Computer sabotage

        (1) Anybody who interferes with a data processing activity
        which is of vital importance to another enterprise,
        another business or a public authority by

        1.  committing an offence under Sec. 303a (1) or

        2.  destroying, damaging, rendering useless, removing or
            altering a data processing system or carrier

        shall be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding five
        years or to a fine.

        (2) The attempt shall be punished

    Sec. 303c - Request for prosecution

    Offences referred to in Sec. 303 to 303b shall be prosecuted
    only on request except where the prosecutorial authority, in
    view of the particular public interest involved, deems that ex
    officio action is required.

    There are no special anti-virus laws at the moment (and the near
    future), perhaps the Sec. 303a and 303b.