Legality or Illegality of using other peoples computer to mine coins

[Codesmith]

 I would like to ask the legality of this ;

 If I own a website and through that website , I use every visitors computer while they are visiting (not after not before , no virus just WHILE they are visiting) to mine certain CPU coins (well it would be great if I can find a multipool to mine the most profitable CPU coin) would it be illegal in anyway?

 This will not be against their will of course , think of a game , the more you stay on that page and let me mine coins with your computer , the higher game currency you will get to play the game. That way when you are away , you open that page and let me mine and when you comeback you can play the game and be better then when you were last playing. Kinda like fremium offer with many mobile game apps.

edit : also do you think this would make any coin at all? depending on how many users of course but for example how much do you think 50 people at a time would make everyday?

[Bitcoininspace]

Ofcourse it's illegal if the other party doesn't know about it. But then again what they won't know won't matter to them. So as long as you keep it a secret and don't rape their cpu too hard (so they won't be able to use the pc properly) then sure go ahead if you can do it in secret.

[Codesmith]

 I have NO idea which coin is still profitable , thats why I wished for a multipool for CPU coins

 Also , they will know , it will be for the game currency , its mutually agreed upon. They will click something like 'agree terms and contidions' type of thingy.

[Rude Boy]

  Dear OP, i think you'd seen this blog/site visitor to miner feature in minergate right?


And from my thought, its illegal to covert your blog/site visitor into a miner of yours. Because, you didn't even asked them to use their browser as a miner.


~Rude Boy

[Codesmith]

 But the trick is , which none of you accept , I am asking , it is mutually agreed upon. They give me the right to mine from their computer , I give them  game currency . win-win.

[Herbert2020]

it is definitely against the law to use your visitors computing power without their knowledge. you have to at least tell your website's visitor in a warning that you are doing that. like the one that pops up on some websites to let you know they are using cookies.

[Amph]

this reminded me of that case of counterstrike, were the developers were using their computer for mining bitcoin, when there were big tournaments and tons of players playing

then they returned everything, when one user discovered the whole thing

i think you can make it legal, if you declare it and you keep only a small % on the total profit

[Anirban Sarkar]

No, you just return few of your profit to them. They could earn more money by themselves.

[shorena]

I dont think you would be violating any laws, but I would suggest that you are open about it. The simplest solution would be a small disclaimer the user has to agree to first.

[Borisz]

If the users would know for sure that their computer is being used for something unrelated to the site (prior to actually being used), then -although not a lawyer- I wouldn't think it would be illegal. This would only work if the user clicked a button like "I agree that Bob can use my computer's resources for an unrelated task while I'm visiting his site" and then the mining or whatever started and not with a hidden message in the FAQ section.

Although, I don't really see why any user would allow you to use their system resources. It is like trying to create a botnet of willing users. If you do it in exchange for a game currency, well...no clue. Why don't ask them to pay you a bit of money via an SMS or similar?

[Hexcoin]

So you are thinking to create a landofbitcoin like site?  I think it is not illegal as long as your users know what you are doing with them in exchange of some bitcoins

[ranochigo]

I would like to ask the legality of this ;

 If I own a website and through that website , I use every visitors computer while they are visiting (not after not before , no virus just WHILE they are visiting) to mine certain CPU coins (well it would be great if I can find a multipool to mine the most profitable CPU coin) would it be illegal in anyway?

 This will not be against their will of course , think of a game , the more you stay on that page and let me mine coins with your computer , the higher game currency you will get to play the game. That way when you are away , you open that page and let me mine and when you comeback you can play the game and be better then when you were last playing. Kinda like fremium offer with many mobile game apps.

edit : also do you think this would make any coin at all? depending on how many users of course but for example how much do you think 50 people at a time would make everyday?

Letting them know about how much of the resources will be used and asking them to agree to the agreement could minimize any implications. If I'm not wrong, you have to design the entire thing yourself. I don't know of any premade webpage CPU miners for all the algorithms available. It can surely make some money but don't expect it to be very high. Altcoins are highly volatile and the hashrate depends on how good you optimize the scripts.

[azguard]

Ofcourse it's illegal if the other party doesn't know about it. But then again what they won't know won't matter to them. So as long as you keep it a secret and don't rape their cpu too hard (so they won't be able to use the pc properly) then sure go ahead if you can do it in secret.

This is good in some companies while they off work you can mine till next morning and again on weekend you can mine whole day long. Further more you wont pay electricity bill   

[odolvlobo]

This might answer your questions:

GAMING COMPANY FINED $1M FOR TURNING CUSTOMERS INTO SECRET BITCOIN ARMY

[techgeek]

this reminds me of some kid doing this with school computers mining doge coin.

I heard it way back when I forget, but the kid had it where it mined it after hours. Basically pure profit.

[pooya87]

it is illegal and your visitors are going to find this out eventually and that is the time when you are going to get into so much trouble. because you were abusing your visitors trust and using their computer without their knowledge and agreement.

[bitbaby]

If you do it secretly without informing the visitors of the site that you're using their CPU power to mine then it would be illegal  but if you explain everything right from the start, when they enter the site, than it's up to the user to decide whether they want to go in or not and then it won't be considered illegal. I don't think you'll be able to get any profit, most users will get a huge lag in their computer if the CPU is hitting 100% and they would get out sooner than you think.

I think there were sites like this earlier, don't remember their names and I knew something was fishy because as soon as I start using them my cpu meter would show full usage. I blocked those sites from that moment on.

[peligro]

You arent the first with that idea. But i would not suggest following it.

First thing is that its not worth hit anymore. Even when you let a big amount of browser work for you, its too few return.

Second thing is that there were already people sued for that. Since of course your users will find it strange why their browser is lagging so hard.

I suggest better not try this out. Risk and reward are simply in no good relation.

[ikydesu]

Dear OP, i think you'd seen this blog/site visitor to miner feature in minergate right?

-snip-
~Rude Boy

I thinking same as you because i ever use this method to my friend computer, but i just do that once It's illegal, because you take away their rights, include: bandwidth, CPU/GPU usage, their coins.

It's remember me to eobot mining software which can do hidden mining auto(but eobot is scam possibly), i ever use the method too LOL.


~iki

[jonnybravo0311]

You're telling your users up front, "I'm going to utilize your computer's resources while you're here.  In exchange for this, I'm providing you compensation in the form of in-game currency."  If they agree to the terms, they've willingly entered into it and are basically renting you their CPU/GPU for the time they're on your site.

I don't see anything wrong with the approach.  Think of things like SETI and BOINC.  You donate your CPU/GPU to help find ET or a cure for cancer.  With your idea, people are being compensated for your usage of their resources.