Man faces jail after checking wife's e-mail.

[Deleted]

The Australian media this morning was covering a story in which a man faces up to 5 years in jail after reading his wife's e-mail. He suspected (and, incidentally confirmed) that his partner was having an affair.

She had left her passwords by the computer and everything. A big part of the problem here is that Australian law doesn't have a specific charge for this, so he's been charged under laws that cover identity theft.

Personally, I don't condone either of their actions, but 5 years is way too heavy handed. Especially given the extenuating circumstances.

The Escapists tend to be tech savvy and worldly. What are our collective opinions here?

If the woman was looking in his email, he probably wouldn't have pressed charges. And if he did, then they wouldn't be this major.

Just saiyan.

 

[Dags90]

Besides, whats he going to say when he gets to prison? "i'm here cause I checked my wife's email cause I thought she was cheating on me. How long? Oh, five yeras, maybe less with good behavior." I mean, this is exactly whats wrong with hte criminal justice system. You're punishing what should be no more then a slap on the wrist, since the guy only checked what she was saying to the guy he suspected her of cheating with. Its not like he stole her SSN ora nything.

"Up to five years." The operative phrase being "up to", the minimum sentence is a fine and the maximum sentence is highly unlikely. As I stated earlier, the guy who hacked Palin's email got sentenced to one year in a halfway house. It's how media sensationalism works, it's like when they say that someone who was video taped axe-murdering someone could be released from prison "in as little as 10 years!" It's just short of lying.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

Well, that was taking the extreme case as most so often do. I somehow doubt he's going to get sentenced and if he does, I think he'll just get the fine too.

 

[=HCFS=Discoman]

he should have the same punishment as reading regular mail (E-mail is regular mail but in a digital form) not identity theft

I must say, I agree with this in principle. Let us not forget, however that mail theft is a serious federal crime. In this case, it would be classed as a class A misdemeanor (on account of the lack of monetary value). A serious (and costly) blemish on his reccord. It would be enough for him to be denied a visa to certain countries.

it is a federal crime in the U.S.
But this is in Australia. it's probably different.
it's kind of ambiguous in this case... he read an e-mail message, but shes having an affair. neither person is the better of the two here.
although, if they both signed a marriage certificate (like they do in the U.S.) then maybe he could get a good lawyer to prove that she breached a signed contract given under verbal terms. hey, a good lawyer would be able to make that work. at least he'd get money from the breach of contract lawsuit.

 

[Wolfinton]

They are married. They basically said when they got married that what hers was his, and what his is hers. That means that looking at her emails is fine due to it being his email too.

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

You can sue for money for breaching a marriage contract in America? Wow. Here in Oz, it's pretty trivial. A marriage doesn't have much in the way of legal effect, unless you've co-habited for less than 12 months.

There's no such thing as alamony here either. Equitable division of assets and such, but.

 

[linkvegeta]

The Australian media this morning was covering a story in which a man faces up to 5 years in jail after reading his wife's e-mail. He suspected (and, incidentally confirmed) that his partner was having an affair.

She had left her passwords by the computer and everything. A big part of the problem here is that Australian law doesn't have a specific charge for this, so he's been charged under laws that cover identity theft.

Personally, I don't condone either of their actions, but 5 years is way too heavy handed. Especially given the extenuating circumstances.

The Escapists tend to be tech savvy and worldly. What are our collective opinions here?

Yikes that is harsh, its his wife, I could be more understanding if it was a complete strangers email.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Does the wife have to be pressing charges for this to be a case?...

Send the woman to jail for adultery, and give the man a cookie! Honestly this is bullshit! He didn't write an e-mail in her mail, so all he was doing was reading mail. Fuck that!

Edit: On a side note: If you want to punish the woman for cheating = exploiting her husbands trust. Then the husband should recieve the same punishment for exploiting his wifes trust (leaving the password around), when he had no proof for cheating. Marriage is fun!

I know that's what alot of people would say...but I don't see the two actions as in anyway on the same level.

Friends and family have had access to my email account plenty(I'd have no qualms about partners seeing it either), and others have trusted me with theirs. That works because we have nothing to hide, and nothing to be ashamed of...there's nothing in my account that I'm embarassed by.

I don't think he really did anything wrong, platitudes and absolute rules on etiquette be damned! I think he knew his wife was a bullshitter(the kind of asshole that needs to keep secrets in the first place)and he just didn't want to be trapped in a marriage full of uncertainty, especially if she's making a fool out of him.

Living your life honestly, and out in the open is an infinitly better way to live your life. I've been trying to think of a reason I wouldn't want a loved one to see my emails and all I could come up with was that it might be a dispatch notice to a gift I had bought them...so I have no sympathy for this woman.

 

[Brandon237]

You know what I think??? The stupid woman shouldn't have been cheating...she also shouldn't have left her passwords by the computer for people to find. I think she deserved to have her mail read, it's a consequence of her actions. Sure, he shouldn't have been reading her e-mails but she basically gave him an open invitation to them.

I must agree here, if his suspicion was confirmed correct then really, my sympathies with him. In the end it comes down to this: he gets jail time because his wife was cheating on him and was not very bright about it either.

How did he get 5 years again???

 

[LupusDei]

To be fair, If shes cheating then she deserves a longer jail sentence than he.

 

[bulldogftw]

I find that funnier then i think i should

 

[Mechsoap]

So she is fucking around and he gets 5 years in jail? That hardly seems fair, if it was the other way around the man would still be the loser.

 

[tomtom94]

Just when I start to have faith in the law courts they screw up...

 

[Palademon]

That's a bit too much even for something under the computer misuse act. It's his wife, not a company or some random perssn. It's someone he's supposed to trust, and he had a pretty reasonable excuse.

 

[Vothriller]

I can't understand how this is treated as identity theft. Since when do you "sign" or legally confirm that the personal data you give when you create an email account are yours or even real? Regular mail on the other hand is confirmed by legal papers that it belongs to you. It's those internet personal data holes that makes people believe they are unique and safe on the internet.
This is just for laughs and unfortunately people get jailed for this.
(damn captcha errors)