Quote:
Originally Posted by AdultKing
Any such database is tainted and cannot be accessed, viewed or used legally.
A database of users from a hacked website is the product of a criminal offence. The accessing of that data is a criminal offence. The distribution of that data is a criminal offence.
Unlawfully obtaining or accessing personal data is a criminal offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. (United Kingdom)
Under section 308H of the Crimes Act, computer-related offences come with harsh penalties, including imprisonment. (Australia)
18 U.S. Code § 1030 - Fraud and related activity in connection with computers (USA)
I could go on but you get the point.
It does not matter if data is left in the open, if you access it without authorisation you are guilty of a very serious criminal offence.
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This is indeed true. But at the same time it's a grey area as I happen to know many law enforcement agency's worldwide do in fact use data from leaks such as this. If it's research or to prosecute in some circumstances it can be used.
I happen to know one such data leak lead to arrests pretty recently, It wasn't the leaker/hacker it happened to be the users contained in the data.