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Is it actually ILLEGAL to read someone's e-mail?

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grasswire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:10 PM
Original message
Is it actually ILLEGAL to read someone's e-mail?
A member of the family is involved in a very raw divorce proceeding. The man confessed last week that the other had left the e-mail password stored on the dually owned computer that he was allowed to take when they separated, and that he had read some of her e-mails over the last few months.

She has replied that this is illegal.

Is that so?
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. Not so far as I know.
Maybe she's got email mixed up with mail delivered by the USPS.
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Hosnon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:58 PM
Response to Original message
2. It is in Georgia.
It shall be unlawful for:

Any person intentionally and secretly to intercept by the use of any device, instrument, or apparatus the contents of a message sent by telephone, telegraph, letter, or by any other means of private communication; or

Any person to commit any other acts of a nature similar to those set out in ... this Code section which invade the privacy of another.


O.C.G.A. § 16-11-62
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Dangerously Amused Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:06 PM
Response to Original message
3. Yes.
Edited on Tue Jul-10-07 08:09 PM by Dangerously Amused



Because the email is password protected, she has a reasonable expectation of privacy in its contents. Therefore, using her password w/o her permission to access the email may be considered an invasion of privacy with potentially criminal and civil consequences.







Edit: clarity.
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Xithras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. No, she surrendered the computer to him.
Even if she was ordered to turn the computer over, her lawyer should have requested that her private data be deleted from it. By not doing so, she turned over ownership of the computer (and by default, all software on it) to him. Since he owned the computer and data, he had a legal right to read it.

It was rude of him to read it, but it was her mistake in not ensuring that it was deleted.
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Dangerously Amused Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:11 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Are you a lawyer?
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Xithras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:12 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. My mother is a family law attorney. (edit)
Edited on Tue Jul-10-07 08:24 PM by Xithras
No, I'm not a lawyer, but I grew up around this stuff. Family law is nasty business.

On edit:

I should also point out that I own a small tech firm, and teach computer science at a local college, so I'm pretty up on the current state of tech law. Generally speaking, unless it's been unlawfully obtained or licensing explicitly states otherwise, software and data are the property of the person who owns the computer on which they reside. If you leave data on my computer, you can't sue me for looking at it.
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idgiehkt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:18 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. wouldn't that data belong to whatever server and company is
hosting the e-mail service? I mean, it really has nothing to do with the computer, it is just downloaded there.

:popcorn:
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Xithras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:28 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. See post 10, I may have misunderstood.
Standard POP3 email accounts download messages from the server onto the local computer. As I understood the original post, he was reading old messages on the computer, which never would have involved the third party service.

If he did use the password to access the ISP's email service, to read messages sent to her after the computer was turned over, then he did access a computer system without authorization and he broke the law. If he only read old emails she left on the computer, he probably didn't do anything illegal (sleazy, but not illegal).
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Dangerously Amused Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:57 PM
Response to Reply #5
12. She did not "surrender" the computer to him.




He is in temporary possession of the computer pending a divorce proceeding. She maintains a half-interest in all of their property despite the fact that she may not have actual possession of it, until the divorce is final and the court has legally divided the property.

She still maintains the right to her individual privacy whether the emails he is reading are downloaded or online. Notwithstanding the location of the private information, her privacy interest remains intact, i.e., she did not relinquish her right to privacy by simply downloading the information to another password protected location (if that is what happened).
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Xithras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:08 PM
Response to Original message
4. Not federally. State laws vary, but probably not illegal
If the computer is his property, it is not illegal for him to inspect data left on it from other users. If he broke into HER private computer, or hacked into an email account at an ISP not owned by him, it might be a crime, but this doesn't qualify. They were messages left on the computer she willingly surrendered to him.

Moral of the story: If you don't want people reading your email, don't leave your email on their computer.
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Xithras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:21 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. Wait. Full stop. I misunderstood.
Did he use a password he found on the computer to access an email account with an ISP, or just to read old emails on the computer? If it's the latter (which I originally assumed) then it probably wasn't a crime. If he used the password to access her CURRENT email account, that's a crime both federally and in most states. It easily qualifies federally as unauthorized access to a secure computer system, and probably violates both state and federal wiretapping laws.
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grasswire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:15 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. the password was stored in the computer
It was not needed to access that mail, in that he did not ever know the password or type it in. It was stored in the email system so that the mail was not protected by it. He read mail she had previously sent to his father, and mail from his father to her. The narcissistic father-in-law is interfering in the divorce proceeding by mucking things up.
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philosophie_en_rose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:15 PM
Response to Original message
8. Maybe. She should consult an attorney.
If he read emails that were saved on the computer, it may not be a strong case. If he entered her email account, it might be a different story.
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TommyO Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:17 PM
Response to Reply #8
14. Since she is in the middle of a divorce, I suspect she has an attorney.
I was in a similar situation, not married, but my ex had all of his email stored on a computer that I built, and used as my primary computer as well. It turns out he was spreading lies about me that I uncovered while trying to figure out some other problems on the machine. Needless to say, we're no longer together, and my life is better for it.
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grasswire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:19 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. this seems akin to reading opened paper mail
Would it be against the law to read a snail mail letter that has already been opened by the sender or recipient? I've never heard of that.
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