摘要：Preventing the unauthorized use of computer systems is one of society:s newest legal needs; ~ the doctriae of conversion provides one of its oldest remedies. Derived from the common law action of trover, conversion occurs when a defendant substantially interferes with an owner's property rights so as to justify the defendant paying the owner the property's full value. 2 In United States v. Collins, 3 the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia considered how the remedy of conversion could punish and deter unauthorized computer use. The court's decision affmning Collins's conviction for converting government property in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641 illustrates that conversion is doctrinally ill-equipped to punish computer system abuse because most abuses will fail to provide a definable res to convert.
