<P> The original 1984 bill was enacted in response to concern that computer - related crimes might go unpunished . The House Committee Report to the original computer crime bill characterized the 1983 techno - thriller film WarGames -- in which a young Matthew Broderick breaks into a U.S. military supercomputer programmed to predict possible outcomes of nuclear war and unwittingly almost starts World War III -- as `` a realistic representation of the automatic dialing and access capabilities of the personal computer . '' </P>
<P> The original 1984 bill was enacted in response to concern that computer - related crimes might go unpunished . The House Committee Report to the original computer crime bill characterized the 1983 techno - thriller film WarGames -- in which a young Matthew Broderick breaks into a U.S. military supercomputer programmed to predict possible outcomes of nuclear war and unwittingly almost starts World War III -- as `` a realistic representation of the automatic dialing and access capabilities of the personal computer . '' </P>
when did the need for computer tampering laws become apparent
when did the need for computer tampering laws become apparent
1983
1983