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There are a number of reasons why it's a bad idea to go poking around your spouse's email without his/her consent. For one, it's an invasion of privacy. Secondly, you might not like you find. Third, there's that whole trust factor. Need a fourth? It could land you in court.
That's the lesson Leon Walker is learning the hard way. After allegedly logging into his wife's Gmail account on a laptop he and the Mrs. share, the 33-year-old is being charged with a felony usually reserved for more serious crimes, like identity theft or stealing trade secrets, The Free Press reports.
According to the report, Walker's snooping led to the discovery that his was wife was having an affair. The two were later divorced, but Walker will have to stand trial on February 7, 2011.
"It's going to be interesting because there are no clear legal answers here," said Frederick Lane, a Vermont attorney and a published expert in electronic privacy. "I would guess there is enough gray area to suggest that she could not have an absolute expectation of privacy."
If you could play judge and jury, how would you rule in this case? Should Walker be busted for breaking into his wife's Gmail account, and if so, how would you punish him?
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jennadavidson
August 17, 2011 at 10:58am
I actually had the same incident happen with my boyfriend but the other way around! First off, we met about three years ago on one of these sites and went out on one date, lost contact for a few weeks, and then found out the following semester (in college) that we have the same class together! Anyways, we started officially going out shortly after and he knew I had trust issues from previous relationships so he voluntarily gave me his username and password to his e-mail, myspace, and facebook. Well, he started acting weird those last few weeks...which made me curious to start doing some snooping (I had never used his password prior to this btw). I found a few e-mails between him and an ex-girlfriend and confronted him about it and he finally admitted he was having an affair. In our case, he knew he was in the wrong and since he was the one who had given me his password, he couldn't say anything about it. It might have made a little difference that I was done with the relationship the second I found out. I think sometimes, when the girl tries to salvage the relationship after they already know of their partner's infidelity, then there partner loses respect for them, and in turn, tries to place the blame on them (i.e. blaming them for snooping through their e-mail).
Alpha Female
January 08, 2011 at 9:37am
I think everyone deserves privacy until it starts to affect a marriage.
ahtrahddis
December 30, 2010 at 10:52pm
The guy did something wrong by accesing his wife's account without her consent but what she did was by far worse, that's the only way to find out if your wife is cheating, because obviously she can't tell you in person she has found somebody else, if I were to judge this case, I would say this woman is only suing her husband because he found out about her affair, that's what upset her, if she weren't cheating it would have been just something to argue about. As for the guy, he should pay a fine since he invated her privacy, but like I said before when you suspect your wife is cheating that is the only way to find out, but overall I think people are exagerating here, so why is it that people who hire Joe Grecko don't face any charges? That would be considered invasion of privacy as well. But no one has anything to say about it...
snowbird
December 29, 2010 at 2:51pm
DARTH_XAVIER I don't think you are being sexist, but it does seem to me that men tend to want to keep things from their spouses more, they just don't state it outloud like women tend to do.
Many people do not seem to base important relationships on solid foundations. And you are right, there does, sadly, seem to be a propensity of liberal behavior in the U.S., fueled by the media and television, and propelled by the more liberal citizens. The media tends to lean toward the liberal side because that's what they think makes more popular news, but it tends to perpetuate the declining value system. I do not think infidelity should be normal or acceptable, but with declining values in our culture, it is not surprising that people make excuses for their behavior. I have noticed a total change of attitude and values amongst our younger culture, and it is evident in all we see on television, the media, and in social arenas. It is tragic and sad, and only when people who have a sense of values speak out, will there be any hope for a change of attitude.
snowbird
December 29, 2010 at 2:13pm
EORAPTOR - You didn't pay attention to the next to last sentence of my former comment..nor it's contents."You should be transparent and TACTFULLY honest in all matters", including your honest opinion of how your spouses' dress may look...I stress, "tackful". If your spouse looks less than appealing and they ASK for an opinion, by all means, you should give them your honest opinion, otherwise you risk tainting the trust between the two of you, and they supposedly trusted your opinion enough to "ask". And if the partner can't handle the truth, they should not ask for it. Privacy is a right in social and business matters. It is a moral and ethical issue in relationships, and should be handled as such--in private.
The importance of truthfulness and honesty has been clouded by the media and people like you who do not like "absolutes", when something more conservative may be necessary when it comes to actions based on real virtues..Half truths and white lies can even be damaging at times, and pave the way for bigger ones. There should be no compromises on such virtures as telling the "TRUTH". Otherwise, where does one ever know where to draw the line, and how do you know who you can trust?
And on this particular article where the husband supposedly has a tainted history of his own, or the wife has a former history, who cares? We are dealing with the circumstance of him accessing his wife's email..period.
Darth_Xavius
December 29, 2010 at 3:59am
It may just be me, and I'm totally interpreting this the wrong way (and no, I'm not just being sexist), but it seems like most of the posters who think there should be privacy in a marriage are females. Im not saying there shouldnt be a reasonable expectation that little things can be kept secret (i.e. Surprise parties, special gifts, what your friend said about your significant other after a few too many beers, etc...) but there seems to be this attitude in the U.S. that is not shared by many countries around the world, especially the more conservativly minded European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, etc...). Is there a propensity in this country for women to cheat (and men)? Is there some sort of factor when we develop that brings along this idea that cheating happens all the time and infidelity is okay and actually normal and supposed to happen? I dont expect that there wont be people out there who do cheat, I am just trying to put it out there that this sort of behavior is eroding the foundation of marriage (if you believe in it). To me this is a sad and tragic thing. I am infuriated by the gall of this woman to think she has the right to make any sort of legal accusation against her husband after she utterly betrayed him and he did nothing more than legally investigate on the family PC to uncover her treachery.
snowbird
December 28, 2010 at 3:09pm
I'm not sure why the legality of this is being discussed, unless this couple is legally separated, and the spouse is snooping his "ex". I can understand the necessity of privacy in business matters, but in personal matters amongst people living under the same roof, legally intertwined, then there should be NO issues, and thus no matter of legality. ..If you have nothing to hide, then you should not fear your so-called "privacy" being invaded...If you have something to hide from your spouse or significant other, than you shouldn't be in a relationship with them to begin with. If you can't do or say whatever in the presence of your significant other, than you shouldn't be doing or saying it to begin with. So sorry, but if your "legal" spouse snooped and you got "caught", too bad. You got what you asked for.
There are NO justifiable secrets amongs loving and honest partners..period. You should be transparent and tactfully honest in all matters. Fess up or do yourself and your partner a favor, and get out.
Eoraptor
December 28, 2010 at 5:39pm
So you tell your spouse that that dress/pants make them look fat? That's an absolutist statement and we don't live in an absolutist world. Telling anyone that they have no right to privacy at all is a dangerous slippery slope, no matter the context. By that logic, there would be no surprise parties, no christmas gifts, and no wedding proposals, because evryone would be allowed to find out everyone else's secrets. Worse of course, when you put it into a legal contract like a marriage license, and thus open up said provisions to government intervention.
Eoraptor
December 28, 2010 at 12:20pm
I'm sure I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been said here before.
1.) was there a "reasonable expectation of privacy" IE, was this a private laptop or the family computer, (asked and answered in the article) and was it in anyway password protected (separate user accounts)? was her email itself password protected with anything other than "password" or "12345." Just because it does not seem "fair" does not make it illegal if she had no expectation that her emails would remain private from anyone with a command of the english language and a keyboard. Further, had she, at any time previously GIVEN him her password, thus immediately invalidating her expectation of privacy until such time as she changed it.
2.) if there "Was" an expectation of privacy in the reading of the emails, can it be proved that there was "mens rea" or malicious intent. IE, did he intend to blackmail her, sell her industrial secrets to the chinese, or plant kiddy porn in her email? If he was legitimately concerned about her behavior IE "She is acting strangely, is she on drugs, is she being blackmailed? I need to find out more in order to help her" then it fails the test of mens rea and was unethical, but not truly criminal.
3.) yes, why the frack are we dipping our legal toes into this when there are real crimes, with publicailly damaging consequences going on? I guess there were no meth deaers on the streets the day this bust went down? and no one was driving 50 in a school zone? and that whole terrorism thing and the little economic crisis and illegal imigration all sorted themselves out?
Queenof1
December 27, 2010 at 4:52pm
Just cause you are married that doesn't mean that you have no expectation of privacy. Why do you think there is a door on the master bathroom? If I keep a diary, I don't expect hubs to go snooping whether or not I have it locked up. Same thing with my email. Should this dude be prosecuted? No. But since the evidence against his wife was obtained illegally, that is, he violated her privacy, he shouldn't be able to use it for the divorce.
BTW, I kept my name when I got married :)
johnnyathm1
December 28, 2010 at 2:46am
"BTW, I kept my name when I got married :)"
I guess that makes you uptight as well as successfully cutting off your hub's balls.
Alpha Female
January 08, 2011 at 9:38am
It simply means a women is proud of her family name, nothing wrong with that.
johnnyathm1
December 28, 2010 at 11:37pm
I guess that makes it a little easier for you to suck on them...lol
Alpha Female
January 08, 2011 at 9:40am
"..I guess that makes it a little easier for you to suck on them...lol.."
Wow...that's mature..I would expect more from a SGT. :P
johnnyathm1
January 29, 2011 at 5:51am
I expect more out of a lot of people, however, I am often disappointed.
Sediket
December 27, 2010 at 5:21pm
I'm not familiar with the proceedings to getting a divorce, but you make it sound like even though he found out his wife was cheating on him he has no grounds to get a divorce because he found out she was cheating by invading her privacy. Which sounds ridiculous, I'm guessing you mean it can't be used in the legal battle for possessions.
Because the way I see it if anyone finds out their spouse has been cheating on them through any means, they can get a divorce if they want to. It just goes on to prove that they already didn't have a good relationship.
Queenof1
December 28, 2010 at 5:08pm
He shouldn't be able to prosecute cheating wifey criminally with his ill-gotten ammunition. But divorce is a civil proceeding, right? Also, depending on the state and the reason for the divorce, the emails may not satisfy the proof anyway. Being through one divorce which I filed myself (no attorney), I had to meet specific criteria in order for the Master to sign off on it.
someuid
December 27, 2010 at 4:06pm
If I were the judge, I'd be throwing the case out. Criminal charges for this? When there are real criminals to go after? Sounds like fraud, waste and abuse of the justice system.
Whoever signed his arrest warrant should be made to explain themselves as well.
If I were the jury, I'd find in his favor, with prejudice (meaning she can't sue him again for this.) Take up my time to get back at your 3rd husband for your infidelity and poor judgement and for leaving/giving out your password - fool. Here is your bottomless hole. Enjoy the trip.
D00dlavy
December 27, 2010 at 2:54pm
There is nothing wrong or "liberal" about smoking pot. Tons of people do it, left and right.
D00dlavy
December 27, 2010 at 2:52pm
Moral of the story: Don't get married.
I've got the vasectomy. Check.
I make decent money. Check.
DVDs of "Two and a Half Men" to use as a how-to manual. Check.
Stress-free life of carefree living. Check.
In regards to the actual topic at hand, what concerns me is that a husband can check his wife's email and land in the clink, but the woman, contractually married, is free to stuff her cootch with other mens' penises and nothing's supposed to happen to her?
I think affairs outta be lawsuit material themselves. You cheat, you lose marital assets when it all gets dissolved.
Queenof1
December 27, 2010 at 4:53pm
you know, there are some states that still have adultery on the books as being illegal.
ShyLinuxGuy
December 27, 2010 at 1:59pm
Re-FREAKING-diculous!
Your spouse could face litigation/jail time for snooping in your email, yet a credit card company, for instance, sells your purchasing trends *WITH YOUR NAME ATTACHED* to other companies.
The punishments NEEDS to fit the crime. Oh, that idea went a way when we have a whole bunch of people in our government/judicial system who have Little Man syndrome. This is coming from someone whose mom is a deputy prosecutor of the county of which I reside. (I get along OK with her :-P) So, it's not like I'm anti-government or anything (I'm not), it's just that since a few years ago, we've had SO MANY *losers* and take office. Especially on the West Coast. Leftover hippies, bankrupt real estate agent "moguls" looking for an easy job, even someone whose previous occupation was "Preschool teacher."
I *really* should give second thought to becoming a lawyer (and eventually a judge) instead of a network tech. Coming from a strong Republican background, I would love to knock some sense into some of these null-headed, pot-smoking, daydreaming fellow politicians.
By the way, the punishment should be no more than an apology, and an agreement that it would not occur again, lest the person loses the privilege of Internet access for one year. If the emails involved cheating, pr0n, whatever, the judge should throw the case out and possibly, off the record, tell the "plaintiff" that MAYBE 'ya shouldn't be doing this in the first place. Judge Judy anyone!
Neufeldt2002
December 27, 2010 at 12:23pm
Since my wife and I share email, as she doesn't care about computers, no problem here. That being said, I think email should be treated as regular mail, if it is not addressed to you, you should not open it unless you have permission. If he was suspecting an affair, he should have got legal advice as to what he can or cannot do to find out.
violian
December 27, 2010 at 11:57am
I thought when you're married, you're considered "one entity"?? As to why you inherit your husband's last name? Isn't that the whole pillar of marriage? On a side-note, if my company looks at my company laptop to see what I've been storing on the computer's harddrive, would that be wrong too? You get the idea. If I was a husband and my wife sued me for looking into her e-mail account; even if I didn't find clues that she was cheating, I'd still divorce her.
jhains
December 27, 2010 at 11:12am
I see a couple of problems here:
1. In Michigan, for Computer Misuse to become a felony, there must be over $1000 in actual damages as a direct result of the crime.
2. Computer Misuse is defined as "willfully, knowingly or purposely accessing computer-based data with intent to steal, destroy or alter computer-based information, steal services, passwords, or otherwise interfere with hardware or software, etc."
Neither of these appear to be the case in this circumstance, though the articles are severely lacking in detail, and none of the press seemed to do any research whatsoever.
Additionally, one could argue that both the computer used, and the email account accessed were community property of the family, and that the husband had the legal right to view the emails in the account. Further, the husband didn't even have to hack the account (or "breaking in" as Paul Lilly wrote) because the spouse didn't take any reasonable precautions against protecting the account; she left passwords in notebooks around the house. This means there cannot be any reasonable expectation of privacy on the part of the wife.
Taking all of this into account, the prosecutor seems to be either emotionally invested in the outcome of the trial (i.e. he's somehow connected to the wife or her attorney and is doing them a favor) or he's trying to set some sort of new precedent for Computer Misuse.
Asker
December 27, 2010 at 10:57am
What a horrible woman, she cheated on him then sued him cause he found out. He's not guilty of anything other than marrying the wrong person. He was obviously right to suspect her.
Crum.Nathan
December 27, 2010 at 10:49am
Okay to start when you marry someone nothing is your own anymore. The man's stuff is the wife's stuff and vice versa. A man grows up leaves his family to marry and become one flesh. I think that he was perfectly in the clear to log on to her e-mail. she should have nothing to hide and the man shouldn't either. I think she should drop any charges for betraying that trust in the first place. Just divorce someone before you go having an affair or don't have one in the first place.
Hamburger
December 27, 2010 at 10:39am
I say since she wrong him and he wronged her... the case should be closed as "settled". lol
