Michigan Case Tests The Bounds of Internet Privacy Between Spouses

If you think your spouse is cheating, you may want to think twice before checking his or her personal e-mail for evidence of the infidelity.

2011-03-19

March 19, 2011 (Press-News.org) If you think your spouse is cheating, you may want to think twice before checking his or her personal e-mail for evidence of the infidelity. In an upcoming Michigan case, a husband from Rochester Hills was charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison for doing just that.

In 2008, Leon Walker suspected that his soon to be ex-wife, Clara Walker, was having an affair with one of her former husbands. Using his wife's password, Walker logged on to a laptop computer they shared and checked her personal e-mail account where he found communications confirming his suspicions.

Eventually, the e-mails were turned over to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, who decided to charge the husband with violating a Michigan law that prohibits people from intentionally accessing a computer without authorization to "acquire, alter, damage, delete or destroy property"(MCL ?752.795). The legislature intended the law to be used for filing charges against serious computer hackers, not spouses.

Despite the public outcry against the criminal charges, the court ruled in favor of the prosecutor to allow the charges against Walker to stand. Walker is the first spouse in Michigan to be charged under the anti-hacking law. In 2009, a woman complained that her ex-husband was checking her e-mails from his home computer, but the Oakland Police Department told her it was a civil matter and that they could not help her. The criminal trial against Leon Walker is set for April 11, 2011.

Social Networking Sites "Gold Mine" of Information on Divorcing Spouses

While it has yet to be seen how the Michigan court will rule on the legality of spouses accessing one another's emails, in many cases spouses do not need to go to such extremes to gather information on a suspected cheating spouse. Thanks to the explosion of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, there is a wealth of information about individuals available password-free on the Internet.

And suspicious spouses aren't the only ones checking these sites for information.

According to a recent survey conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), one in five divorces now involve the use of information posted on social networking sites in some way. Facebook was the most popular go-to site for surveyed attorneys to troll for potentially damaging information against divorcing spouses, followed by MySpace and Twitter. Other seemingly innocuous sites, like LinkedIn, also have been used in divorces to discredit spouses.

In the social media age, checking whether their clients and their spouses have on-line profiles is the first step taken by divorce attorneys worth their salt. With more than 400 million people on Facebook, finding information on any one individual usually is not that difficult. The information collected from these sites can be admitted as evidence in court, usually to call the other spouse's credibility into doubt or to contradict something he or she previously said.

For example, tweets can be used to show that someone was not where they claimed to be. Flirtatious messages posted on Facebook message boards can provide evidence of infidelity. Inappropriate photographs can be used to discredit a spouse's reputation and cast doubt on their fitness to have primary custody of their children. Status updates announcing a big vacation or expensive purchase can impact a spousal support award for better or worse. Even resumes posted on LinkedIn and other job sites can show how one spouse is seeking employment while claiming they cannot work.

How to Protect Yourself from Facebook Sabotage

The best way to ensure that information on a social networking site does not find its way into your divorce proceeding is to simply not use social networking sites - or at the very least to stop using them while you are going through your divorce.

Since this may not be a realistic option for some people, the next best thing that you can do is to be very careful about what you post. Avoid making disparaging comments about your spouse or divulging private information about your life, including who you are dating, what you are buying and where you are going.

If you have any potentially damaging information on your Facebook page or other profiles, remove it. But you should keep in mind that removing the information does not delete it permanently - in many cases, this information is retained for several years, if not longer, by Facebook.

You also should up your security settings to make sure that none of your photographs or other information is accessible to the public. Lastly, you should "unfriend" your soon-to-be-ex and anyone who may share sympathies with him or her, since they can access your profile on your spouse's behalf.

Conclusion

For more information on divorce and protecting your privacy during the divorce process, contact an experienced divorce lawyer today.

Article provided by Legal Center of Jack L. Jaffe
Visit us at www.jackljaffe.com

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