Is it illegal to send a prank virus to your friend over the internet?

Question

I watched a youtube video that showed me how to make a fake virus to scare people with messages that show up in the command prompt saying stuff like "Trojan Matrix Failing! Shutting Down Windows..." Anyways, I changed it up a little with stuff like"Launching StormWorm Virus. Searching Hardive..." Would it be illegal to send this file to a friend in an email? it is a .bat file. I don't know if anymore info is needed about this.

Answer 1

nice prank but this would be a cybercrime ... it is illegal

Answer 2

No it's not illegal since it isn't a REAL virus.

Answer 3

it would be funny, so i recon just do it lol

Answer 4

Well, assuming that either your friends or your email system will allow the transmittal of *.bat and *.com files yes it is still illegal in most countries and indefensible in a reasonable court.

If you ever have questions about hypothetical computer crimes, just substitute the elements of the act with common and traditional methods since computer technology is still too new to fully define an entirely new standard of law... the traditional standards of law are often applied.

So, ask yourself instead "would it be illegal to use the Postal Service to mail poison to a friend as a joke, since you read a magazine article describing how to make poisons?"

The answers become obvious, some words to live by...

"..when in doubt, stay out."

I'll refrain from calling you names since too many others have and your question has some merit.

Answer 5

no. as long as it doesn't jeopardize their system

Answer 6

1 question

if you tried to rob your friend with a toy gun and a cop saw you and shot you . . . would it still be a good joke lol

no even sending a fake e mail virus is still illegal in most countries ( just look at the people that went to jail for the anthrax scare you Americans had and i don't know if any real stuff was ever sent in the postal mail but still a lot of people caught a lot of heat over that and some went to jail i believe)

Answer 7

well it won't be classified as a virus and anti-viruses won't detect it since its not a virus, so all those auto-email virus checkers do nothing. and if they can't find it, who can?

go ahead ^^