Man faces charges for reading wife's e-mail
By goldeneagle
@goldeneagle (6745)
United States
December 27, 2010 5:28pm CST
I just read this story online. Apparently, it is illegal to read your spouse's email address, even if you have the password, and you share a computer with them. Poor guy...
What do you think of this?? Here is the link...
NOT A REFERRAL LINK!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40820892/ns/technology_and_science-security/?gt1=43001
NOT A REFERRAL LINK!
10 people like this
29 responses
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I think it will surely open up a can of worms the justice system amy not be ready for. I bet there are a lot of partners out there checking their significant others emails. Right or wrong..it happens. Even those partners that aren't husbands or wives might be curious. Now that might be where the key lies. Is it someone that has a right and under what situation is it that has them check it. I do value my privacy and might be offended if my partner checked mine because he thought I was cheating but I think it might be better handeled at home versus through the court system. But..he did bring her emails into the divorce..so maybe that opened a door. Interesting situation for sure.
1 person likes this
@aeiou78 (3445)
• Malaysia
28 Dec 10
It is hard to judge out if it is wrong or not by reading the partner's emails.
Sometimes, a couple are sharing everything inclusive their emails.
They are transparency to each other.
As long as they agree to each other, there is nothing wrong at all.
1 person likes this
@djbtol (5493)
• United States
28 Dec 10
Well, first it shows how pathetically stupid the Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor is. Maybe he should sue her for not taking adequate precautions to protect her online identity, thus putting the children at risk.
So often when people are placed in a position of authority, it goes to their head and they think they are God. In my book, the day she started cheating on her husband, was the day she lost the right to keep that information secret. She really has no right to have a place where she keeps information that is contrary to and destructive of the marriage covenant she entered.
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
28 Dec 10
Hi Goldeneagle,
That's just weird. I know they have privacy laws and all but this I think is carrying it out a bit too far. I don't think it is right to get into anyone's personal e-mail or mail, diary or anything else that is meant to be private but I had no idea it was a felony! These kinds of things happen all the time between couples and this is the first time I've ever heard of someone being charged. Was the guy his wife was seeing possibly the judge? 
1 person likes this
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
28 Dec 10
Hmmm , controversial topic. But in this case , the law does apply unfortunately. It wouldn't be an issue at all if the problem is kept behind closed doors .. but since it has gotten a bit public , then the law applies. Because the wife has an email account of her own and since her husband reads it , it's a violation of privacy. Unless he has gotten permission in the first place , then that's a different story altogether.
@Celanith (2327)
• United States
28 Dec 10
The fact that he had her password, she gave it too him just like I give my passwords to my husband and they share a computer as well means he did NOT invade her privacy. I asked my son who is an attorney and because the computer was shared by them and he had the password it is not invasion. It is permission. In marriage that is given when you say your vows anyway. It is a matter of trust and morals and she has and had NO right to have that sort of thing private. Some of these rights people THINK they have are bogus. My husband reads my emails and I his and letters too. This is something that happens in marriages. There would be no problem if the woman had not been cheating. She is dishonest, fraudant and a liar and cheat. The law is becoming warped. I would love to hear what Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown would have to say to the woman. I think they would take his side.
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
27 Dec 10
Absolutely as my thinking is that if the wife wanted her emails to be display to her husband she would have had them cc to him.
I and my boyfriend truly have no secrets between us, however I find that there is a certain level of respect when it comes to one another's emails and general mail. He was out of town for almost three weeks and I never once got tempted to open his email, even though he has his password on default.
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
5 Jan 11
wow. I mean, my spouse and I read each others' emails and text messages all the time. If I'm busy, and my phone beeps, my husband will pick it up, read the email, and deal with it. The reverse also occurs. Obviously, we don't respond to emails from friends about friend stuff, but if it's a party invite, a relative wanting something, or a client, either of us answer.
We know each others' passwords for most things. It would be pretty easy to get a new email address that the other person didn't know about if we wanted to hide something though. I mean, just get another gmail account...how hard is that. You just have to make sure you log out.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
7 Jan 11
yeah I don't see why someone would use their primary email address to do something like this...especially one that your spouse has access to the password for. It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to set up an anonymous yahoo or msn account to conduct your shady affairs from, and a yahoo account is FREE, so there is no excuse not to...
@Celanith (2327)
• United States
28 Dec 10
Having two attorney's in the family helps. First because he had access to her email password it was not private plus it is a shared computer again not private. The woman was neglecting her family and cheating. This is smoke screen done by her attorney and the likely hood is the guy will not go to jail. A marriage is a commitment between two people and you do not keep those kind of things secret. The guy maybe being charged but most likely the charges will not stick. A good attorney is going to show the woman and her attorney are trying to throw a smoke screen to cover up her deeds of adultry and most likely she wants custody of the kids. It is only illegal if he did not have her password and hacked into it to get information and then only if they had seperate computers. Did read the link and his attorney is already working to have the charge thrown out.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I agree with you on this actually. I think that she is so afraid of losing everything in the divorce that she is going to try to have him thrown in jail so that she doesn't have to worry as much about him taking everything from her as a result of her infidelity.
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
28 Dec 10
She made that choice and now she's trying to turn things around. I guess this is one of the reasons why am I so afraid of having a relationship nor getting married because of things like this. I think the guys lawyer can win more on this one since the infidelity or adultery offense is a lot worse than the than that problem of hers with him
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I am glad to see I am part of the majority here, because I feel like saving this article to show my husband..Though he can never get into my account, he barely gets into his, but he will sometimes stand over my shoulder and read what I am reading without asking. It's rude and an invasion of privacy..
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
7 Jan 11
oh, that's true. Like how I know details of my dad's business that he and my uncle run, and I know stuff about my best friend's marriage. My dad and my friend have a right to me not telling other people, even my husband, about their private matters. I think what it is is that you shouldn't have SECRETS in a marriage - but you should still get privacy, to the extent that both partners are comfortable. So sometimes, in one marriage, you open each others' mail - but in another marriage, you don't. It doesn't mean anything - it's just what both partners are comfortable with.
1 person likes this
@Celanith (2327)
• United States
29 Dec 10
Give me a break. Privacy in a marriage things like mail and email should not ever be private. What do you have to hide you would not want your husband to see? I want my husband to have my emails and read my mail. I read his and I never have to ask permission. That was given the day we said our vows which will be 41 years come April 2011
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
29 Dec 10
Well if a friend is sharing something personal, then it isn't his business. My husband tends to talk a lot, while I on the other hand do not. I have friends who tell me things confidently knowing it won't go any further. Same as for mylot, I have friends here who PM me with personal things they don't want everyone to know. Besides someone who says I should have talked to my daughter as I am mourning for my aunt has nio business knowing anything I do, since he can't support me..
@teamrose (1492)
• United States
28 Dec 10
As you know, "damage" is not required for most criminal charges, nor should it be. Many acts are criminalized because of the potential for damage, or for other reasons. For example, there is no "damage" for DUI unless you crash -- should that be legal too? Furthermore, there is "damage" here -- the wife's privacy was violated.
That said, I don't believe there should be criminal liability if he accessed her account via stored data on the computer that he jointly owned, or if she left her email account opened on that computer. She had no reasonable expectation of privacy from him on a jointly owned computer. If he hacked her password without regard to data stored on the jointly owned computer, however, that would be a different story. The story doesn't make it clear how he accessed her email. And even if there is technically criminal liability, I think that absent other facts (which may well exist despite being absent from the article), the prosecutor should have declined to exercise his discretion to prosecute in this case. Moreover, absent those potential additional facts, I think the prosecutor will have a tough time convincing a jury unanimously to convict -- how many men are going to vote to convict a guy who discovered his wife's affair via her email?
@Celanith (2327)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I have been married for over 40 years. Marriage between a husband and wife means that privacy is very very small and they share pretty much everything. Suprises for a birthday or anniversary is one thing but secrets kept from a spouse are wrong and marriage other than body functions using the bathroom etc are just not there. The fact she thinks her privacy was invaded is pure wrong. She committed and took vows to forsake all others. That gave her husband every right to read her emails and visa versa. I have and do open mail to my husband and visa versa and emails too. We have nothing to hide from one another that is what marriage is. The fact he had her password and they shared a computer gave him every right to expect she was had nothing to hide. She was wrong. You young people today think it about this stupid right or that and throw away something when there is no good cause. Cheating is wrong, it hurts people it destroys families. She was and is wrong. The guy was not invading her privacy and some bozo who thinks he was is probably another immoral jerk cheating on his wife or her husband. This world has plain pure become crazy. There is no moral values or decency at all anymore. It is about trust and so there should be no such thing as "PRIVACY" of that nature in any marriage period.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
28 Dec 10
What gets me is that if HE had been cheating and she had used his password to read HIS emails, there wouldn't even be a court case to begin with...
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
28 Dec 10
Hello GoldenEagle,
So, Basically If he hadn't read the email, he would have never found that affair. I wonder,what about the woman? can she be charge for cheating? 
i thought there are laws against that too?
Well, I get mad when ever my mom even thinks of looking at my post in mylot because she tends to correct me with my words. but the thing is that i don't want her to read my post. so, if it is her turn, that's the time i leave her alone because i don't want to invade her privacy.
Sure, the wife has a the right to do so since 
"she got busted" and it's a pay back.
Poor guy just divorce the lady and move on.@Celanith (2327)
• United States
29 Dec 10
A mom is one things but a husband or wife completely different. A mom does have a right to read you mail, email etc up until you turn 18. But afterwards no she does not. However you husband does have that right you gave him that right when you said I DO. Same for him to you.
@SIMPLYD (90721)
• Philippines
28 Dec 10
I guess, if you are a couple, you shouldn't be hiding something from each other. However, both of you needs some privacy too , hence one should not be reading the email of the other. That is what we call respect for one another.
@adistheangel (3)
•
28 Dec 10
I agree with your opinion. If you try to hide something means something is wrong. But yes of course, we all need our space and privacy too.
@saphire31 (18)
• United States
23 Jan 11
I think the spouse should have respect for his wife's privacy. Having her password and sharing a computer doesn't give him the right to access her email. Just because you share a mail box with some one and the same address wouldn't give you the legal right to open a letter that came for the other person would it?
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
24 Jan 11
I can see both sides of this issue. One side is that he should not have read her email. The other side, however, is that I think she is more pi$$ed off about the fact that she got caught than she is about he fact that he read her email, and in her mind, a law suit against him was the best way to get back at him for catching her...
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
28 Dec 10
i think the spouse deserved to be punished because he intrude the privacy of his wife... but this is the first time that i heard that somebody can face charges for reading wife's e-mail... i hope that the husband will learn from his mistakes and won't repeat it again... take care and have a nice day...
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
11 Jan 11
i think a lot of people will be in jail if they really start caring about this. i dont think i know of anyone that hasnt looked at their s/o email even the trusting types
@daliaj (5674)
• India
29 Dec 10
I think he should not have read the email. I don't understand why people share their passwords with their spouses and complain about reading their emails. If both the people are fine with reading at each others emails, then it is fine to share the passwords, otherwise it is always best to keep the passwords as secret. It is a normal human tendency to peep into others life.
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
29 Dec 10
I agree that he should face charges. I think a friend of mine said it best:
"It doesn't matter, an email address is considered personal property now, due to the anti-spam laws. Not to mention, it's pretty immoral to do so; if he had such grave doubts, there is a legal item called a subpoena. Also, if he actually did not have the password, and used keyloggers, etc to get in to the account, that's considered identity theft!"
We cannot argue that it is personal property. If this was just two roommates with benefits it would still be against the law.
Namaste-Anora
@sparky3dfan (599)
•
23 Jan 11
I know this is old but I found it quite amusing. It's even illegal to read someone elses postal mail. On one hand though when it comes to this particular story im in two minds, was he snooping on her? and has she got something to hide from him? Most couples wouldn't care if their reading each others mail.
@RiceCraft (16)
• United States
28 Dec 10
Lolz he shouldnt have even been nosey and looked at somones elses email, even though he had suspetions, so he should have acually talked to her
