"Internet Trespass :
If a person, without permission, interferes with another persons possessions this may amount to trespass to goods. Traditionally trespass cases have dealt with interference with physical goods but a number of US cases have suggested that accessing a computer hard drive can amount to trespass. The barrier preventing the use of trespass as a means of legal complaint about Adware, Spyware or DRM in the US has been the need to prove that the complainant has suffered actual damage. However, last month a Californian District Court ruled that allegations that Adware had damaged existing software and reduced the efficiency of the complainants computer were sufficient to amount to damage for the purposes of trespass. This was not a final ruling in this case but it is the second Adware trespass case known to the author to get past the first hurdle in US court procedure no doubt other cases are pending or will soon be launched.
In the UK it is not necessary to prove that the trespass has caused damage but a complainant must show that the interference with his property has gone beyond generally acceptable standards of conduct. The surreptitious downloading of software which impairs the function of the users computer and is only of benefit to the commercial entity causing it to be installed is likely to fall foul of this UK test and amount to trespass.
In the US cases the litigation has been brought not only against the seller of the software but against the agencies and advertisers who employ such software. If advertisers in the UK do not think through their use of Adware and DRM technology there is a real risk that they could be subject to trespass claims."
(emphasis added)(source:
http://www.legalday.com/commentaries...ss-050306.html )
The above is with regards to Trespass to Chattels and I am happy to say it basically re-iterates my comments from earlier today
Pay particular attention to the part I formatted in italics. It would seem that the Javascript which was inserted in the 2006/2007 trials satisfies this definition pretty much verbatim (especially since Webwise was not part of the trials).
Alexander Hanff