Sentence for unauthorised access to private user accounts

A man had accessed the user accounts of a number of young women on Snapchat and the cloud storage service Min Sky. Several of the women were well-known public figures, including influencers. He went through the accounts and downloaded more than 1,000 private photographs and videos to his mobile phone. The material depicted young women who were lightly clothed or nude. Some of the images were of a distinctly sexual nature. The images were not shared with others.

The man obtained the usernames and passwords for the Snapchat accounts by searching a database of leaked passwords available on the internet. As regards Min Sky, he exploited a temporary security flaw that allowed access without a password.

He confessed to the offences and was sentenced by the Oslo District Court to 100 days' imprisonment. The judgment concerned a total of 67 instances of unlawful access to computer systems under section 204 of the Penal Code, committed against 38 persons, and 14 attempted intrusions of the same kind against 9 persons. He was also convicted under section 201 of the Penal Code for obtaining more than 100 usernames and passwords belonging to other individuals.

The prosecution appealed, and Borgarting Court of Appeal increased the sentence to five months' imprisonment. The defendant considered the sentence too severe and appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court set the sentence at 120 days' imprisonment, emphasising that such digital intrusions violate personal privacy and may impose a significant burden on the victims. Technological developments have made it increasingly easy to obtain unauthorised access to private images and videos. In some environments, the threshold for engaging in such conduct may be low. Therefore, the signalling effect of punishment is important from a preventive perspective.

The judgment provides guidance on sentencing in cases involving digital intrusions that give access to private images and videos.

Area of law: Criminal law, unlawful access to computer systems

Key paragraphs: 3, 4, 20, 22, 23, 32, 37, 41

Justices: Webster, Sivertsen, Vang, Steen and Horn.