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As a private U.S. citizen, is it legal for me to hack North Korean systems?

2 points by aniftythrifrty ↗ HN
Legal as far as the United States goes. Same with Russia, Iran, etc. Since they are all enemies of my country, can I legally assist in messing with their systems? Which laws would I be breaking? How would it ever get reported?

10 comments

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ProphetMargin
Legality is less relevant than the likelihood of being extradited.
aniftythrifrty
By whom? I doubt we extradite to any of the countries that we sanction.
master_crab
To NK? I don’t believe the US has an extradition treaty with them. And even if they did, politics would stop any extraditions from moving forward.

Do enough damage though, and the American government will find a reason to stop you if you are destabilizing the US’s diplomatic relations with other countries.

h2odragon
Do you fall under the rules defining "militia" in your state? If so you may be, to an outside observer, no different from a soldier of the US Army acting without orders in the commission of what would almost certainly be called war crimes.

could you legally travel to the border of one of these states and begin firing weapons at them?

If the hostile motivation is the same, why should there be any difference in the reaction to it? You wanna impede their country, its government, its citizens from the normal pursuit of their life: whether you do so by kinetic weapon or by assaulting their digital civil infrastructure.

If you choose to pursue private wars, do so on your own; and please loudly disclaim the involvement of the rest of your neighbors when you do.

aniftythrifrty
All I'm asking is the legality of it as far as the U.S. is concerned. Would U.S. law enforcement care? What law would I be breaking?
slater
Your U.S. ISP's terms of service, likely
slater
You might run afoul of your ISP's terms of service, regardless of which country you wish to flex your hacking skills on.
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