As soon as you access something you're not supposed to. If a house is left unlocked and you walk in and take a look around, you're trespassing and it's a crime. And of course if you cause any damage or steal something, that's an even bigger crime.
Except with hacking, the punishments can be even more severe relative to the actual crime committed, because almost nobody in the legal system will understand the details of what happened so they can make you seem as dangerous as they want. Just look at Aaron Swartz and countless other examples of the heavy charges that have been given out for very minor, borderline cases of "hacking".
As soon as you access something you're not supposed to. If a house is left unlocked and you walk in and take a look around, you're trespassing and it's a crime. And of course if you cause any damage or steal something, that's an even bigger crime.
Except with hacking, the punishments can be even more severe relative to the actual crime committed, because almost nobody in the legal system will understand the details of what happened so they can make you seem as dangerous as they want. Just look at Aaron Swartz and countless other examples of the heavy charges that have been given out for very minor, borderline cases of "hacking".