網路爬蟲之刑事責任

A Study of Criminal Liability about Web Crawler

在資訊化時代，網路爬蟲被廣泛應用於各個領域進行資料的挖掘與收集。網路爬蟲在展現出顯而易見的優勢同時，隨之而來的還有對秘密、財產、國家安全等法益侵害的可能性。法律無法僅將使用網路爬蟲視為中性之行為，必須對其作出適當的評價。只不過何種使用網路爬蟲行為應受刑法規制，以及應當承擔何種刑事責任尚無定論。本文試結合網路爬蟲運作原理及實際案例，歸納當前不當使用網路爬蟲的行為態樣，分析其中需承擔刑事責任的行為類型，並通過相關犯罪構成要件的檢視，探討可適用之罪名，明確網路爬蟲「罪」與「非罪」的界限。考量到並非所有使用網路爬蟲行為都具有法益侵害性或刑罰必要性，以當前的刑事規範對其中的不法行為類型進行規制尚未出現明顯之缺失，故無需針對使用網路爬蟲行為進行專門的立法。

In the information age, Web Crawler is widely used in various fields for data mining and collection. While Web Crawler shows obvious advantages, it also has the possibility of infringing on legal interests such as secrets, property and national security. Therefore, the law can not only regard the use of Web Crawler as neutral behavior, and it must be properly evaluated. However, what kinds of use of Web Crawler should be regulated by criminal law and what kinds of criminal responsibility should be borne are still inconclusive. This article attempts to combine the operating principles of Web Crawler and actual cases to summarize the current behavior patterns of improper use of Web Crawler, and to explore which acts should undertake the criminal responsibility. It also discusses the applicable crimes through the analysis of relevant criminal constitutional elements, and clarifies the boundary between the crime and non-crime of Web Crawler. Furthermore, considering that not all acts of using Web Crawler have legal interest infringement or penalty necessity, and there is no obvious deficiency in regulating the illegal acts with the current criminal law. Therefore, there is no need to legislate a special law for Web Crawler.