It's Not the Computer, Stupid. It's the Information in It.
Security Boulevard, Thursday, April 30th, 2026
Two recent indictments highlight how criminal law struggles to apply traditional theft concepts to information, which cannot be stolen in the traditional sense.
The article argues that legal frameworks for computer crimes incorrectly treat information as tangible property subject to theft, when information is actually non-rivalrous and can be copied without depriving the original owner.
Two recent federal indictments-one involving insider trading based on government information and another charging the SPLC with copying documents-illustrate how prosecutors stretch property-based theories to criminalize information misuse.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected overly broad interpretations of criminal statutes when applied to information, drawing distinctions between actual theft and misuse based on breach of duty. The author concludes that the law should more clearly articulate that most alleged information "theft" is actually misuse, which should be addressed through contractual, fiduciary, or regulatory frameworks rather than traditional property crime statutes.