was not unlawful as the law then stood. The English Law Commission and its counterpart in Scotland both considered the matter. The Scottish Law Commission concluded that intrusion was adequately covered in Scotland under the common law related to deception, but the English Law Commission believed a new law was necessary. Since the case, both defendants have written extensively about IT matters. Gold, who detailed the entire case at some length in The Hacker's Handbook, has presented at conferences alongside the arresting officers in the case. The Computer Misuse Act Based on the ELC's recommendations, a private member's bill was introduced by Conservative MP Michael Colvin. The bill, supported by the government, came into effect in 1990. Sections 1-3 of the Act introduced three criminal offences: unauthorised access to computer material, punishable by twelve months' imprisonment (or six months in Scotland) and/or a fine "not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale" (since 2015, unlimited); unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences, punishable by twelve months/maximum fine (or six months in Scotland) on summary conviction and/or five years/fine on indictment; unauthorised modification of computer material, punishable by twelve months/maximum fine (or six months in Scotland) on summary conviction and/or ten years/fine on indictment; (For other offences see § The amendments below) The sections 2 and 3 offences are intended to deter the more serious criminals from using a computer to assist in the commission of a criminal offence or from impairing or hindering access to data stored in a computer. The basic section 1 offence is to attempt or achieve access to a computer or the data it stores, by inducing a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access. Hackers who program their computers to search through password permutations are therefore liable, even if their attempts to log on are rejected by the target computer. The only precondition to liability is that the hacker should be aware that the access attempted is unauthorised. Thus, using another person's username or identifier (ID) and password without proper authority to access data or a program, or to alter, delete, copy or move a program or data, or simply to output a program or data to a screen or printer, or to impersonate that other person using e-mail, online chat, web or other services, constitute the offence. Even if the initial access is authorised, subsequent exploration,