The limits of the norm under Article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
The article considers the issue of what should be understood as computer information protected by law as the subject of the crime under Art. 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. There is no unified approach to this issue in judicial practice, nor have there been any rules for qualifying the impact on information in electronic form that is a secret of personal life or is an object of copyright. In the theory of criminal law, the position prevails that any information in electronic form should be referred to the information protected by law as the subject of the crime under Art. 272 of the Criminal Code. At the same time, the authors draw attention to the fact that it is necessary to distinguish between computer information containing data and commands intended for the operation of a computer in order to obtain a certain result, and a computer program as an object of copyright. In their opinion, text information, which a person perceives from a computer monitor, with the exception of a username, password and code, does not relate to the subject of the specified crime.