Now that we know the story behind the bizarre and frighting Parity exploit, I was curious as to whether or not a crime had been committed or if anyone could be charged with a crime over this whole debacle.

I recently spoke with a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, although not specifically in computer crimes and asked him a few questions regarding the Parity situation. According to the lawyer, depriving someone of their property via “destruction” is considered a crime in most areas of the United States as well as well as most European countries. So in this case, destroying a key file which deprives people access to their Ethereum could fit that definition. He also stated that intentionally deleting computer files can also be a crime by itself, depending on the circumstances and whether the person had knowledge of what would happen. Of course, in this case the person who deleted the files claimed he did not know what he was doing, but that would have to be determined in court if charges were ever brought.

The one thing the lawyer did say was a wild card is that the so-called “delete button” was apparently built into the code. He said this does open up a unique argument as to whether using a built in feature can be considered a crime or intentionally malicious. But one could argue that even if a bank had a button on the wall that would burn all the cash in the vault, it would still probably be a crime to push it if you knew what would happen.

The lawyer did say that computer crime and cybercrime laws, at least in the United States, have been expanding and that they have a tendency to be vague, so they can be used to cover a wide array of activities. This isn’t necessarily a good thing in general, but it is a reality of the legal system regarding computer crimes. Based on this and the money involved, the lawyer I spoke with did suspect criminal charges could be brought depending on where the individual lives and whether it can be determined he in fact carried out the exploit.

Of course, there will probably also be civil litigation if the lost money is never recovered. Whenever you talk about hundreds of millions of dollars the one thing you can count on is lawyers getting involved at some point.

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