Illegal to check cheating spouse's email?

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
In today's new world of technology, I guess we'll be seeing more & more test cases like this. So apparently a man thought his wife was cheating, obtained her email password, & discovered it was true. With her ex-husband. Here's part of a news article:

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – A Rochester Hills man who says he learned of his wife's affair by reading her e-mail on their computer faces trial Feb. 7 on felony computer misuse charges.
Thirty-three-year-old Leon Walker used his wife's password to get into her Gmail account. Clara Walker filed for a divorce, which was granted this month.
Leon Walker tells The Oakland Press of Pontiac he was trying to protect the [COLOR=#366388 !important][COLOR=#366388 !important]couple's [COLOR=#366388 !important]children[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] from neglect and calls the case a "miscarriage of justice."
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sydney Turner says the charge is justified.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101227/ap_on_hi_te/us_reading_wife_s_e_mail

So what do you all think? He's being charged with invasion of privacy. Personally, I don't think I have a problem w/it. First off, a marriage is when 2 people become one, correct? What's his is hers & what's hers is his? Shouldn't that count for emails?

Second, if she had nothing to hide, it wouldn't even be an issue (unless it was a surprise Xmas gift, in which case it would've sucked for them both :p).

Third, this is evidence in a divorce proceeding. Seems to me it should be used.

Thoughts?
 
I don't think marriage entitles you to use someone's password to access their email account. I think of it like separate bank accounts.

The fact that she was having an affair is not the point, the husband was wrong to do what he did.

Of course she was wrong for having an affair - but couldn't he find a legal way way to discover that? Other people have figured it out long before email was around.

Now in a happy healthy marriage - accessing each other's email is probably a non-issue, but still it's wrong to use someone's password without their knowledge and consent, regardless of your relationship with them (except in the case of minors - I think parents should check kids emails but that's a different debate I guess).
 
But isn't marriage, in essence, a contract? And this woman basically violated a contract by cheating? I'm having a tough time w/this, obviously.

Think about the work environment. There is no privacy in work emails, etc., & none should be expected.

So why does the right to privacy hold in the home, but not at work?
 
If employers are entiled to spy on employee's email a husband/wife should be able to, too.

Who owns the computer? Both. Who pays for the internet/email access? Both.

I think this is just one of those bogus charges that gets a headline/discussion going but will NOT have its day in court.
 
I don't see the contract analogy. Marriage doesn't work like that. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Companies are different because I did sign an agreement that the company has access to my work email so I agreed up front to that.

Last I checked, there's not marital agreement that says email access/ password access allowed in case of suspected cheating. :)

I don't think he should be charged with a felony though, that does seem extreme, but I also think using someone's password is to read their emails is wrong (without their consent).
 
cindi1 said:
I don't think marriage entitles you to use someone's password to access their email account. I think of it like separate bank accounts.

The fact that she was having an affair is not the point, the husband was wrong to do what he did.

Of course she was wrong for having an affair - but couldn't he find a legal way way to discover that? Other people have figured it out long before email was around.

Now in a happy healthy marriage - accessing each other's email is probably a non-issue, but still it's wrong to use someone's password without their knowledge and consent, regardless of your relationship with them (except in the case of minors - I think parents should check kids emails but that's a different debate I guess).
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I agree with you 100%!

That being said, I also feel though, that actually charging this guy with a felony b/c of it seems more then a bit over the top to me. What he did was wrong, but not it's not a felony crime IMO!
 
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I think that if you stole a neighbor's password or even a close friend that charges are applicable but I am inclined to think that a marriage relationship changes the expectations around privacy. There are many things I can't do without my husband's knowledge and/or consent. I don't think what the husband did here is right but I don't think he should be facing criminal charges. Would a prosecutor realistically charge a husband if he opened his wife's physical mail?
 
Really!

What if he opened snail mail and read a letter? Is that mail fraud?

What if he went through her pockets and found something incriminating? Is that tresspassing? Illegal search and seizure? (I watch a lot of L&O):D

What if he overheard a phone conversation? Surely eavesdropping must be a crime!

In a marriage - good, bad or indifferent you really shouldn't have much expectation of privacy. If you want to cheat, cover you tracks better, don't use a co-owned computer and get a harder password (she probably used the date of their wedding).

I'm on the husband's side.

Debbie Russo
 
What bothers me about this is that the powers that be are cutting police forces and letting violent criminals out of prison early because of budget problems; but we can afford to waste money on cases like this.
 
Lisa7691 said:
I think that if you stole a neighbor's password or even a close friend that charges are applicable but I am inclined to think that a marriage relationship changes the expectations around privacy. There are many things I can't do without my husband's knowledge and/or consent. I don't think what the husband did here is right but I don't think he should be facing criminal charges. Would a prosecutor realistically charge a husband if he opened his wife's physical mail?
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Well this is pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

I think there are two issues here. I find it absurd that the state of MI is wasting time and money prosecuting this man. What's next? Charging a person with stalking for following a cheating spouse to a hotel? While it may be technically illegal to access your spouse's email account without consent, I believe this law is on the books for completely different reasons.

As to whether you should be able to expect your spouse to respect your privacy; of course you should. You should also be able to expect your spouse to be faithful. If you are snooping around in your spouse's private matters, or cheating all bets are off!

Having said that, my husband has access to all my email accounts, facebook and phone. Not because he's a control freak - I'm just too lazy to sign out of stuff. He would never open my mail (not that I get much) but I wouldn't care if he did.
 
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Hmmm. Lots of interesting feedback.

I confess. If it was me, I'd do it. :eek: Usually when you suspect there's cheating, there is. And I think her *ahem* discrepancies are worse than his.

I agree about the waste of money though. Ludicrous to be prosecuting this when the economy is so bad & we have better things on which to spend.

Some savvy attny is getting some great press from this. :confused:
 
Well, I don't think it should be illegal, no. It's annoying that he checked her email - drove me nuts when my ex checked mine. Too much is misunderstood when you read someone else's emails - which was the case with him reading mine. He also read my work email - which IS an invasion of privacy and I probably could have made a stink out of it.

If you're having an affair and email/text with your "other" - you're asking to get caught. Eventually it will happen. But getting caught isn't necessarily a bad thing - it will move the process along of either fixing your marriage or ending it.
 
LauraMax said:
But isn't marriage, in essence, a contract? And this woman basically violated a contract by cheating? I'm having a tough time w/this, obviously.

Think about the work environment. There is no privacy in work emails, etc., & none should be expected.

So why does the right to privacy hold in the home, but not at work?
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Work emails are different. If you use the company's computer to access your personal email account, there is no right of the company to access that account. If you use the company email system, they own your emails and have every right to read them. My company blocks access to personal email accounts.
 
DEEDEE2 said:
What bothers me about this is that the powers that be are cutting police forces and letting violent criminals out of prison early because of budget problems; but we can afford to waste money on cases like this.
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I couldn't agree more.
 
I'm in the camp that thinks two wrongs don't make a right.

If being in a marriage negates all rights to privacy, then I would have been in trouble a long, long time ago. There is no way I could have stayed around one person for all these years without some things being private. Not that there is anything to hide, but my DH does NOT read my emails. He doesn't have my password and I don't have his.

Of course what she did was wrong. That doesn't make what he did right.

(And for what it's worth, I think it's absurd to prosecute him.)
 
JeanneMarie said:
I'm in the camp that thinks two wrongs don't make a right.

If being in a marriage negates all rights to privacy, then I would have been in trouble a long, long time ago. There is no way I could have stayed around one person for all these years without some things being private. Not that there is anything to hide, but my DH does NOT read my emails. He doesn't have my password and I don't have his.

Of course what she did was wrong. That doesn't make what he did right.

(And for what it's worth, I think it's absurd to prosecute him.)
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I completely agree with this. To me, snooping through a spouse's email, mail, voicemail, business records, pockets, closet, whatever, is nasty behavior, controlling and paranoid.

Maybe the wife began having an affair because her husband had a history of invading her privacy, trying to control her, and mistrusting her.
 
Michigan is a marital property State, how the Wayne County Judge defines that will play on this case. During my divorce in MI, I had every legal right to go after a house my ex was buying during our trial although we were living in seperate households ALSO I could use monies that weren't in my name just his. Thus, the email account could be viewed as his as well since the PC bought during the marriage was still present.
From my understanding, there are ppl trying to get this case thrown out cause the State of MI cannot afford this kind of trial.
It will test the marital property status of MI VS right to privacy.
 
I'm on the side of the husband in this case, this whole case is ridiculous and a waste of taxpayer's money.

I said this because if you are in a committed and healthy relationship/marriages this should be a non-issue. If I were married wouldn't care that my husband had my password to email because there shouldn't be anything suspect content in there anyway.

I think if you get upset about it then something is wrong.

i agree with one of the other [osters, if it was a friend or neighbir then yes that is an invasion of privacy but not in a marriage.

Probably the only excuse I would give is if someone in the relationship is abusive and the other is trying to make move to get out.

But in this case there is no way it should have gone to court and there's no way he should be looking at 5 years, we have bigger problems in this world like the 100 and some prisoners in Mexico that prison guards helped escape.
 
Funny . . . as I am reading this I wonder if it was a set up?

I heard on the news yesterday that all her passwords were written down right near the computer. Perhaps she might benefit from this - or . . . would be in more trouble if she didn't try to pin something on him if there was a chance that her cheating would cause her to lose more in a divorce?

Silly stuff to air nation-wide and yes, to spend taxpayer's $ on.
 
Just because some people's marriages are "open books" and nothing is private does not make it the way it should be for every married couple. Every marriage is individual. Not all couples operate w/in their marriage by the same rules. If these 2 people had an agreement that their email was an open book and could be gone into/read/etc by the other person at any time WITHOUT prior permission and passwords were general knowledge then fine, the husband was well within his right but it doesn't sound like that's the case. Sounds to me like he went into her account behind her back and w/o her permission and that is wrong. I don't care who you are, if you are married or not or if you suspect cheating. It's still WRONG. Should he be put on trial for it? No. Ofcourse not. That's absolutely ridiculous but that doesn't change the fact that he did something wrong. Ofcourse her cheating on him was worse and if one of us suspected a cheating spouse there are likely many who would do exactly what he did (it's human nature I think) but that doesn't make it right.
 
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