domestic espionage laws

I'mahack said:

[FONT=&quot]I know government organizations unofficially, have free reign to spy on citizens, but what if a citizen is caught spying on the government? Specifically, a member of a watchdog group? How severe would the punishment be?[/FONT]

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There are a whole lot of unknowns and assumptions in your question. Also, you're from Canada, and I know little about Canada's laws, so I'm going to answer from a U.S. perspective.

First, in the U.S., the government does not "unofficially have free reign to spy on citizens," no matter what you've heard in the news lately. There are in fact very strict laws and auditing systems in place to prevent that. That's not to say it never happens, but no, there is no "free reign" to do whatever you like and har har har at those silly "laws" that lawyers speak of.

As for "spying on the government," that depends on what you mean. There are lots of watchdog groups, notably the ACLU and the EFF, but many others from all ends of the political spectrum, filing lawsuits and FOIA requests and lobbying Congress for more transparency. That's not "spying."

If you mean a private citizen actually breaking into a government computer system or something of that sort? The penalties can be very (disproportionately) severe. The government has absolutely no humor or mercy about that sort of thing.

You need to be a lot more specific. I suggest reading the forum guidelines to help construct your question.