Family Law and Electronic Privacy: A New Age?
Posted on Sun, Jan 02, 2011 @ 02:58 PM
Scanning through the news this weekend, I came across this intriguing article from the Detroit Free Press:
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Dec. 26, 2010
A Rochester Hills (Michigan) man faces up to 5 years in prison -- for reading his wife's e-mail.
Oakland County prosecutors, relying on a Michigan statute typically used to prosecute crimes such as identity theft or stealing trade secrets, have charged Leon Walker, 33, with a felony after he logged onto a laptop in the home he shared with his wife, Clara Walker.
Using her password, he accessed her Gmail account and learned she was having an affair. He now is facing a Feb. 7 trial. She filed for divorce, which was finalized earlier this month.
Legal experts say it's the first time the statute has been used in a domestic case, and it might be hard to prove
"It's going to be interesting because there are no clear legal answers here," said Frederick Lane, a Vermont attorney and nationally recognized expert who has published five books on electronic privacy. The fact that the two still were living together, and that Leon Walker had routine access to the computer, may help him, Lane said.
"I would guess there is enough gray area to suggest that she could not have an absolute expectation of privacy," he said.
About 45% of divorce cases involve some snooping -- and gathering -- of e-mail, Facebook and other online material, Lane said. But he added that those are generally used by the warring parties for civil reasons -- not for criminal prosecution."
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What is most interesting abou
t about this case is that Mr. Walker is being charged with crimes commonly associated with electronic espionage, which usually targets sophisticated computer hackers, not everyday individuals.
Leon Walker is being prosecuted under Michigan statue 752.759, which reads, in part:
"A person shall not intentionally and without authorization or by exceeding valid authorization do any of the following:
"Access or cause access to be made to a computer program, computer, computer system or computer network to acquire, alter, damage delete or destroy property or otherwise use the service of a computer program, computer, computer system or computer network."
Electronic privacy law is still an underdeveloped area of family law, but it is growing rapidly. We now share so much of our lives on Facebook and other social networking sites, and these sites are regularly mined by divorce attorneys and their clients. Certainly, there are exceptional circumstances in this case - Mr. Walker has considerable computer training - but as these skills become far more ubiquitous, I wonder where electronic privacy law is headed.
For the full article read: http://www.freep.com/article/20101226/NEWS03/12260530/