I am surprised this is not discussed at all on Hackernews, but in the ongoing "hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn" case, Linkedin is arguing that "intentionally and knowingly bypassing an IP block" is an exceed authorized access and qualify as a criminal offence.
That's because in their opinion they are allowed to put the "gate down" for some users on an otherwise publicly accessible website.If the court follows this argument using a VPN to get access to content that is otherwise blocked in your country through an IP Block for example could become a criminal offence as well.Hearing link: 