I am currently in England. Is it illegal to shut down servers/sites that host illegal sale of products on both the lite web and the deep/dark web? Or is it still a crime to hack these sites?
If you do it (supposing you are not a UK government employee), it's illegal and potential "terrorism" under the
The Terrorism Act 2000Under the Terrorism Act not all hacking will be considered to be terrorism. Accordingly the use or threat of an action designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system will be a terrorist action only if both of the following conditions are satisfied:
- It is designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public
- It is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause
Illegal sale of product websites are probably outside of the terrorism act 2000, but hacking is still illegal for UK citizens.
If the UK government does it, its legal (2015): "The UK government has quietly passed new legislation that exempts GCHQ, police, and other intelligence officers from prosecution for hacking into computers ".