Your Computer is a "Protected Computer"

As was made plain by the recent Aaron Swartz scandal, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act can be used to prosecute alleged violators at a high level for minor transgressions. The law, "18 USC § 1030 - Fraud and related activity in connection with computers" defines several forms of violations, all of which involve what the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 defines as a protected computer:

a computer—
(A) exclusively for the use of a financial institution or the United States Government, or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution or the United States Government and the conduct constituting the offense affects that use by or for the financial institution or the Government; or
(B) which is used in interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of the United States.

This is a rather wide definition, as any computer used to buy from Amazon or perform online banking with an out of state bank then immediately qualifies as being "used in interstate commerce." Also, anyone sending an email to any other person in another state would then also be using the computer for interstate communications, again meeting the standard.

What this means is that your personal computer is a protected computer, and any transgression against your computer then qualifies for a criminal complaint at the Federal level. More on this tomorrow.