(1) A person who does any direct or an indirect act without authority which the person knows or ought to have known will cause an unauthorized modification of any programme or electronic record held in a computer commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than five thousand penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not more than ten years or to both.

(2) It is immaterial that the act in question is not directed at

(a) any particular programme or electronic record,

(b  a programme or electronic record of any kind,

(c) a programme or electronic record held in any particular computer, or

(d) any unauthorised modification is, or is intended to be, permanent or merely temporary.

(3) A modification of a programme or electronic record occurs if, by the operation of a function of the computer concerned or any other computer,

(a) a programme or electronic record held in the computer is altered or erased,

(b) a programme or electronic record is added to or removed from a programme or electronic record held in the computer, or

(c) an act occurs which impairs the normal operation of any computer.

(4) An act which contributes towards causing a modification is regarded as causing it.

(5) A modification is unauthorized if the person who causes it

(a) is not entitled to determine whether the modification should be made,

(b) is not authorized to make the modification or knowingly acted in excess of the authorized modification, or

(c) does not have consent to the modification from the person who is entitled.