Do you know the password for the personal email account of your competitor, former employee, or ex-husband? While the temptation to review the email of a previous ally turned adversary may be strong, you must resist.
If you do not have express permission to access another person’s web-based email account—such as those found on Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail —such activity could land you in hot water. Indeed, you risk not only civil liability but criminal liability too. In addition, since information – even illegally obtained—cannot be “unlearned,” it is best to keep your personal email passwords private and change them frequently.
If you were given permission to access another person’s email account at some point, changed circumstances might mean that such authorization is no longer be adequate.
In a recent Massachusetts case, two doctors who were shareholders in a medical clinic exchanged personal email account passwords to enable them to share specific information prior to the clinic’s acquisition of a remote-access software solution. Cheng v. Romo, 2013 WL 6814691 (D. Mass. Dec. 20, 2013). Several years later, one of the doctors had a business dispute with the other doctor’s husband that resulted in litigation.
In an effort to help her husband, the doctor tried the access the Yahoo! email account of her former business partner using his years-old password and voila, it worked! She accessed the email account, and printed a series of emails that her husband used in his business litigation. Eventually, the wife’s involvement in obtaining the emails came to light.
After the dispute between the husband and the other doctor resolved, the wife’s former partner sued her under the federal Stored Communications Act and for invasion of privacy. The case proceeded to trial, and the jury found her guilty, awarding damages to the doctor in excess of $300,000.
Exercise caution when accessing another’s email not only in business matters, but in personal matters, too. In Michigan, an information technology professional was involved in a custody dispute with his ex-wife. He correctly guessed the password to her Gmail email account, accessed the emails and used them during the custody proceedings.
The Michigan Court of Appeals found this was enough to prosecute him with violating of Michigan’s Unauthorized Access of a Computer statute (MCL 752.795). People v. Walker, 2011 WL 6786935 (Mich. Ct. App. Dec. 27, 2011) aff’d, 491 Mich. 931 (Mich. 2012). Notably, according to media reports, before trial it was discovered that that the defendant’s ex-wife had been illegally accessing his text messages, and the prosecutor decided to drop the charges.
Your situation might not be so fortuitous.
If you need to know information that is contained in another person’s email account, you should use legal channels to get the information. The consequences for snooping in another person’s personal e-mail account can be significant.
Add a comment
Subscribe
RSSTopics
- Commercial Liability
- Business Risk Management
- Contracts
- Civil Litigation
- Business Torts
- Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
- Commercial Real Estate
- Standing
- Facilitation
- Commercial Leasing
- Bankruptcy
- Appellate Law
- Real Estate
- Commercial Loans
- Real Estate Mortgages
- Coronavirus
- COVID-19
- Trade Secrets
- Litigation Discovery
- Corporate Formation
- Mortgage Foreclosure
- Cryptocurrency
- Regulatory Law
- Risk Management
- Shareholder Liability
- Fraud Activity
- Cyber Attack
- Insurance
- Tax Law
- Damages Recovery
- privacy
- Cybersecurity
- Class Action
- Product Liability
- Pensions
- Statute of Limitations
- Biometric Data
- Banking Law
- e-Discovery
- Noncompete Agreements
- e-Commerce
- Internet Law
- Residential Liability
- Venue
- Zoning and Planning
- Consumer Protection
- Clawback
- Department of Education (DOE)
- Receiverships
- Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
- Fair Credit Reporting Act
- Garnishments
- Unfair Competition
- Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
Recent Updates
- 5 Things to Consider Before you Begin Facilitation
- Motion to Dismiss or Motion for Summary Judgment? Why Does it Matter if I Just Want my Case to go Away?
- Dispelling Misconceptions About the Role of Appellate Lawyers at Trial
- What is 'Standing,' and Why Does it Matter in Litigation?
- What Happens When a Court Rules Your Contract is Ambiguous?
- Understanding Michigan’s Successor Liability Law can Protect Your Business Deal
- 10 Things About Trade Secrets you may not but Should Probably Know
- What New Lawyers Bring to the Practice of Law
- What Rights do Limited Liability Company Minority Members Really Have?
- Arbitration or the Courtroom, Who Decides?