BSides Vancouver 2026

In 1975, the University of Alberta received its first computer: an Amdahl 470 V/6 complete with three hundred terminals spread across the campus made available to 3,500 students and faculty. While one of the first notable things it was used for was to play chess, it also became important in establishing computer crime law in Canada. When a student was caught stealing time from the shared system, the Crown struggled to charge him. This talk will go over the entire story and how the Supreme Court of Canada had to tell Parliament to change the law to understand the new frontier that was computing.