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Comment by john_strinlai | Hacker News Reader

>An AI cancelling other people's gym classes is a felony? Don't computer systems fail all the time at holding reservations for people?

the difference is intent.

if a concierge/booking system makes a mistake (or has an unintended bug or whatever), no crime.

but if i (or an agent working on behalf of me) use an API in an obviously unintended way to revoke other people's reservations, that would fall under the computer fraud and abuse act (in the usa).

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>"the difference is

intent."

>"but if i (or an agent working on behalf of me) use an API in an obviously

unintended

way to revoke other people's reservations..."

i am not quite sure what your question is, as you simply quoted me and then put a question mark... i think you are confused that i used "intent" in one context, and "unintended" in a different context, is that right?

the first sentence: the difference is the intent of the person who caused the cancellations

the second sentence: but if i (or an agent working on behalf of me) abuse an API to do things it was not meant or designed to do, such as cancelling someone else's reservation

The point is, the law cares about your intent. If you ask an agent to abuse an API to do those things, then yeah, you are probably liable. If you ask an agent to do something reasonable (like make a booking), and then it accomplishes that by abusing the API, then you probably are not.

Double negative. An attacker using the API in an "obviously unintended" manner shows intent.

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