Two things - 1) It could be argued that changes to the registry of the sort that Xupiter makes constitute damage to data, even if not attempts to trash the whole PC. After all, many viruses have a quite innocuous payload, but distributing them is still a crime. 2) Unlike the Nigerian fraudsters, Xupiter is presumably a registered company with a real address. Lastly - if the existing law is not enough, we need a new one!