As Amended
SEC. 97-45-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Access" means to program, to execute programs on, to communicate with, store data in, retrieve data from or otherwise make use of any resources, including data or programs, of a computer, computer system or computer network.
(b) "Computer" includes an electronic, magnetic, optical or other high-speed data processing device or system performing logical arithmetic and storage functions and includes any property, data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with such device or system. "Computer" shall not include an automated typewriter or typesetter, a machine designed solely for word processing which contains no data base intelligence or a portable hand-held calculator nor shall "computer" include any other device which contains components similar to those in computers but in which the components have the sole function of controlling the device for the single purpose for which the device is intended unless the thus controlled device is a processor of data or is a storage of intelligence in which case it too is included.
(c) "Computer network" means a set of related, remotely connected devices and communication facilities including at least one (1) computer system with the capability to transmit data through communication facilities.
(d) "Computer program" means an ordered set of data representing coded instructions or statements that when executed by a computer cause the computer to process data.
(e) "Computer software" means a set of computer programs, procedures and associated documentation concerned with operation of a computer system.
(f) "Computer system" means a set of functionally related, connected or unconnected, computer equipment, devices or computer software.
(g) "Computer services" means providing access to or service or data from a computer, a computer system or a computer network and includes the actual data processing.
(h) "Financial instrument" means any check, draft, money order, certificate of deposit, letter of credit, bill of exchange, credit card as defined in Section 97-19-9 (b), Mississippi Code of 1972, or marketable security.
(i) "Intellectual property" includes data, computer programs, computer software, trade secrets, copyrighted materials and confidential or proprietary information in any form or medium when such is stored in, produced by or intended for use or storage with or in a computer, a computer system or a computer network.
(j) "Property" means property as defined in Section 1-3-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, and shall specifically include, but not be limited to, financial instruments, electronically stored or produced data and computer programs, whether in machine readable or human readable form.
(k) "Proper means" includes:
(i) Discovery by independent invention;
(ii) Discovery by "reverse engineering"; that is, by starting with the known product and working backward to find the method by which it was developed. The acquisition of the known product must be by lawful means;
(iii) Discovery under license or authority of the owner;
(iv) Observation of the property in public use or on public display; or
(v) Discovery in published literature.
(l) "Use" means to make use of, to convert to one's service, to avail oneself of or to employ. In the context of this act, "use" includes to instruct, communicate with, store data in or retrieve data from, or otherwise utilize the logical arithmetic or memory functions of a computer.
SOURCES: Laws, 1985, ch. 319, Sec. 1, eff from and after July 1, 1985.