Hacking Statute Could Jail Man for Reading Wife's Email

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Hacking Statute Could Jail Man for Reading Wife's Email



According to Michigan prosecutors, reading your cheating wife's email is the same thing as hacking into the Pentagon.

A man from Rochester Hills, Michigan faces up to 5 years in prison because a state prosecutor says he violated a statute designed to outlaw the activities of hackers. Her interpretation of the law could be a bit loose, as the man simply used his wife's email password to uncover an affair.

Leon Walker became suspicious that his wife was cheating on him with her abusive second husband, and that she was bringing her child from her first husband along. To confirm his suspicions, he read his wife's email through a family computer using a password she kept in a nearby book. When he discovered the affair, Walker printed out some of her emails and provided them to the woman's first husband so that he could file for custody of the child. Walker was arrested in February 2009 after his wife found out what he did.

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper calls Walker a "highly-trained hacker," perhaps displaying a misunderstanding of his actions. Walker is being tried for violating Michigan statute 752.795, which partially reads: "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."

Walker's attorney says that the statute was created to protect against identity theft, to guard government information, and to protect trade secrets, not to stop a husband from exposing an affair by using a password that was within arm's reach, and to protect a child from abuse no less. He wonders: "Don't the prosecutors have more important things to do with their time?"

According to the Detroit Free Press, defense attorneys in the area are surprised by the charges, specifically comparing it to parents looking into kids' Facebook accounts. The slope is very slippery here if Walker is convicted, but the outcome of his case is unsure, because this is the first time the statute has been invoked for a domestic case. We can only hope that a jury doesn't send Walker to jail for acting just like he should to expose his now ex-wife's negligence of him, and her very own child.

Source: Detroit Free Press [http://www.freep.com/article/20101226/NEWS03/12260530/]

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Feb 13, 2008
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All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?

And in seriousness, doesn't Michigan statute 752.795 already apply to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail etc.?
 

ShadowsofHope

Outsider
Nov 1, 2009
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..

...

A "highly trained hacker"? Searching Google Mail?

Excuse me America, once again, but your legal system is just fucking shit.
 

The Random One

New member
May 29, 2008
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HACKERS ON STEROIDS

He should have sent a copy of the printed e-mails to his attorney. Then they'd have nothing. Remember kids, always send a copy of everything to your attorney. If you don't have one, make one up.

The_root_of_all_evil said:
All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?
Guilty.
 

Heart of Darkness

The final days of His Trolliness
Jul 1, 2009
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...what? So logging in to someone else's email account using a password they keep in arms reach is now equivalent to bypassing security systems, stealing confidential secrets, and general digital espionage?

Michigan, I am sorely disappoint.
 

emeraldrafael

New member
Jul 17, 2010
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*reads* I see...

... I'm sorry, I had to take a small break to laugh at this. He HACKED her email? if thats hacking punishable by law then the stuff I've done should get me on Interpol's top ten list. My mom writes all her passwords on a note pad so she doesnt forget them. How is that hacking? He was just really observant. It seems to me that they're punishing this guy for being able to read and loving his child enough to not live in ignorance and wait for it to destroy the marriage.

This is sounding and awful lot like a man suing the people he just robbed because he slipped on their icy steps while carrying the loot he stole. -_-#

ShadowsofHope said:
Believe me, we know.
 

The Ambrosian

Paperboy
May 9, 2009
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?

And in seriousness, doesn't Michigan statute 752.795 already apply to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail etc.?
You got me :p

OT: My friends forget to sign out of their facebook/hotmail on my computer all the time, and when it auto-logs onto theirs, and I see their recent mail, am I a hacker?
 

AngryMongoose

Elite Member
Jan 18, 2010
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And what's the moral of the story here? Be wary when marrying someone with 2 former husbands.
 

hyperdrachen

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Jan 1, 2008
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ShadowsofHope said:
..

...

A "highly trained hacker"? Searching Google Mail?

Excuse me America, once again, but your legal system is just fucking shit.
Thank god our legal system isn't corrupted by any form of reasonability.
 

garfoldsomeoneelse

Charming, But Stupid
Mar 22, 2009
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?
Yeah, I had to re-read the title. "Hacking statue" consists of two wildly incompatible words, so it piqued my interest.

OT: More power to this guy.
 

emeraldrafael

New member
Jul 17, 2010
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The Ambrosian said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?

And in seriousness, doesn't Michigan statute 752.795 already apply to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail etc.?
You got me :p

OT: My friends forget to sign out of their facebook/hotmail on my computer all the time, and when it auto-logs onto theirs, and I see their recent mail, am I a hacker?
Only if you live in Michigan appearently.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Yep, this is exactly why I am so wary of laws governing the flow of information over computer systems in general. What seems like a straightforward law, with good intentions, is now being used well out of context, and all it takes is a couple of victories on cases like this to establish precedent.

That said, a lot is also going to depend on the state and local laws governing other things as well. If this guy has a decent lawyer, a big argument can be made about the computer being communal property, especially seeing as he knew where the password was (it wasn't hidden), an arguement can be made that the password existed not to prevent his access, but that of a potential third party like a burgler, hacker, or whatever who wouldn't know where the password was hidden. A case can also be made for the computer being his (along with everything on it) if he actually paid for it, depending on how the property of married couples is dealt with in cases of conflict like this (communal, or if it can be broken down to individual ownership if there are seperate personal accounts being used to buy things).

At any rate, I'm not a lawyer, but if I was trying to defend this case I'd push the issue of whether or not the wife was attempting to conceal the password, or if she told him/knew he knew where it was. That could nuke any privacy arguements right there. If she for example told him to check her email for her even once while she was busy or whatever, leading to him having this information, her case is going to be pretty weak.


The case with children is something else entirely, because the right of parents to intrude on the privacy of their children's computers is based around the idea of those under 18 having no civil rights, or adult protections at all. Even if a kid purchuses a computer with their own money (from a job or whatever) being underage, their legal guardian can do whatever they want with their property. That shouldn't hold up as a defense here, you'd have to find another angle on it I'd think (I'd imagine a good lawyer is thinking along the lines I am above).

On the other hand I think a lot of issues exist today because of the way the goverment decided to strip away the legal rights and protections of children. There have been many cases over the years, where even as an adult I think things have gone too far. Admittedly this has less to do with parents in most cases, than school authorities. With parents I do not think paying the bills gives them the right to go through their kid's cellphone/text records, and similar things. For all the cases where some serious problmes were uncovered and some kid was "saved from himself" most of it is ultimatly Mickey Mouse BS, that's part of growing up, and the parents just wind up making things 10x worse by playing Jr. Detective and trying to intervene in things they shouldn't even know about. Making mistakes is how kids learn, without those growing pains they aren't going to be fully ready to deal with the adult world. Overprotection can be worse than being negligent, you need to find a medium IMO. I'm getting well off topic though.



(( EDITED IN: )) I'll also say that while a bit extreme, cases like this are also why I feel we have the right to keep and bear arms in the US. The abillity to resist authority gone out of control. Like most cases that are covered here on The Escapist, we do not have all the details. However if the facts (child endangerment, etc..) are accurate here, and the law gets twisted that way, this is the time you pull out the gun and start blasting. It happens enough times, things change. It's also a heads up to the police, when it comes to a BS law, remember these guys are volunteers and most knowingly put their lives on the line, but there are limits to what the cops are going to risk their lives for. Enough incidents, and your going to see the police pretty much saying "no, I am not going to go risk getting my head blown off to arrest some guy who blew the whistle on a crime over some kind of warped interpetation of information protection guidelines". Might not happen for him (of course) but it has to start somewhere.

I might not be articulating that perfectly, but the point is that the recourse is important and part of how our system was balanced. It's one thing when a loonie gets taken down, quite another when you have ordinary guys doing it, the media can only spin so many of them into loonies if you see a lot of this for the same reasons.

You intervene for these reasons, and ask yourself if you'd want to spend a few years as "Bubba Bait", especially knowing that by going quietly some other schmoe is likely to get the same thing for the same reasons as you, or would you rather go down fighting, and hope it makes a differance down the road even if your not remembered well, and looked down on right then and there.
 

ultimateownage

This name was cool in 2008.
Feb 11, 2009
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That's the problem with making purposefully vague laws to prevent something that can't be classified easily.
 

KaosuHamoni

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Apr 7, 2010
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Jesus Christ America? Could you sink any lower?

The_root_of_all_evil said:
All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?
Might have done... ¬_¬
 

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
14,499
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
All seriousness aside...who came here looking for a hacking statue?

And in seriousness, doesn't Michigan statute 752.795 already apply to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail etc.?
I made sure to remember that third "T"
 

BabyRaptor

New member
Dec 17, 2010
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A highly trained hacker? Because he read the password written down in a nearby book? Wow..The stupid knows no bounds...
 

Nouw

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Mar 18, 2009
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Now let me see... is this sexism or stupidity? Maybe both?

The man/woman should know that cheating on your husband is something far worse than reading an e-mail.
Now I hope the Judge begs to differ in this moronic situation...
 

Iznat

New member
Feb 13, 2010
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Highly trained?

Well, shit, I didn't know reading qualified me for that. Gotta update my CV.