Hire The Detective

Dec 27th, 2010

The more things change... 


It used to be we'd look for lipstick on the collar, call the hotel she was staying at on that "business trip" or perhaps just hire a detective. There are likely a million ways men and women have attempted to learn the things they didn't want to know over the years. They've questioned, they've followed and sometimes they've just assumed the worst and gotten on with their lives one way or another.

In the age of increasingly tough anti-fraud and anti-identity theft legislation, however, it's a really, really bad idea to read your spouse's e-mail:

From the Chicago Tribune:

"ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. — 

A Rochester Hills man who says he learned of his wife's affair by reading her e-mail on their computer faces trial Feb. 7 on felony computer misuse charges. Thirty-three-year-old Leon Walker used his wife's password to get into her Gmail account. Clara Walker filed for a divorce, which was granted this month. Leon Walker tells The Oakland Press of Pontiac he was trying to protect the couple's children from neglect and calls the case a "miscarriage of justice." Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sydney Turner says the charge is justified. 

Privacy law writer Frederick Lane tells the Detroit Free Press the law typically is used to prosecute identity theft and stealing trade secrets. He says he questions if a wife can expect privacy on a computer she shares with her husband."

Seriously... Hire the detective.