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CBS News: Man Charged in Reading Cheating Wife's Email


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So does anyone really think this guy was in the wrong and not his cheating wife?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/27/national/main7189082.shtml

Man Charged in Reading Cheating Wife's Email

Michigan Man Faces Felony Computer Misuse Charges; Says he had Domestic Violence, Child Neglect Concerns Over Affair

(CBS) An Internet law designed to protect the stealing of trade secrets and identities is being used to levy a felony charge against a Michigan man after he logged onto his then-wife's Gmail account and found out she was cheating.

Leon Walker, 33, of Rochester Hills, Mich., is being charged with felony computer misuse, and faces up to five years in prison after logging into the email account of now ex-wife Clara Walker on a shared laptop using her password, the Detroit Free Press reports.

He is facing a Feb. 7 trial. Leon and Clara Walker's divorce was finalized earlier this month, the Free Press reports.

Clara, who was married twice previously, was having an affair with her second husband, as Walker found in her email, according to the Free Press. The second husband had been arrested earlier for beating her in front of her young son from her first husband.

Walker was worried about more domestic violence from husband No. 2, so he handed the e-mails over to the child's father, the Free Press reports. He promptly filed an emergency motion to obtain custody.

Leon Walker, a computer technician with Oakland County, was arrested in February 2009, after Clara Walker learned he had provided the emails to her first husband.

"I was doing what I had to do," Leon Walker told the Free Press in a recent interview. He has been out on bond since shortly after his arrest. "We're talking about putting a child in danger."

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper defended her decision to charge Walker, calling him a skilled "hacker" who downloaded the material in "a contentious way."

Electronic Privacy expert Frederick Lane told the Free Press that the case hinges in a legal grey area, and the fact that the laptop was shared may help Walker's cause.

About 45 percent of divorce cases involve some snooping -- and gathering -- of email, Facebook and other online material, Lane said. But he added that those are generally used by the warring parties for civil reasons -- not for criminal prosecution, the Free Press reports.

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I know someone that did this. Was suspicious of his wife so he logged on to her gmail or facebook account and some dude started iming him. She had been chatting with this guy or whatever and was planning to travel to meet him for the first time in a few weeks. Amazingly, no charges were filed. (thankfully, they got counseling and were able to work through it)

BUT, as usual this is only one side of the story. Very possible he was doing something legitimately wrong, and happened across the email while he was looking for something else. That's the real question (for the criminal prosecution) - why was he on her email in the first place?

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I have a legal right to commit identity theft, and to claim to be someone else, when . . . ?
When did he "pretend" to be someone else? When he "steal" anyone's ID? When did he "claim" to be someone else?

My wife signs a credit card receipt from my credit card. Did she just commit a felony? Applying this line of reasoning, any divorce that was aided by the use of a keystroke logger should retroactively indict the divorcer with felony computer misuse.

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Some questions in my mind...

In the video interview Leon states that Clara told him that husband #2 had a history of being physically abusive to her. I wonder if what she said was true, as she didn't seem to mind carrying on an elicit affair with the guy. I know a lot of people who lie about things in their past relationships to make it seem like they were faultless. We know now that she's a cheater and a liar so was husband #2 really an abuser? I don't think we'll ever get the answers to all that.

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When did he "pretend" to be someone else? When he "steal" anyone's ID? When did he "claim" to be someone else?

My wife signs a credit card receipt from my credit card. Did she just commit a felony? Applying this line of reasoning, any divorce that was aided by the use of a keystroke logger should retroactively indict the divorcer with felony computer misuse.

The difference is knowledge and consent.

There are lots of married couples who have separate bank accounts (undoubtedly there has been a thread about it here). If W starts withdrawing on H's account without knowledge and consent, guess what?

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It is insane that they could stretch the law to apply to this guy. What's even worse is that it's not just the crazy ex-wife suing him civily or something...it's the prosecutor who thought, hmmm, let's prosecute HIM! I wonder if the thrice married ex is banging the prosecutor.

The law is not even close to covering this "crime," it is talking about something entirely different. I believe this is the same "Illegally accessing a computer" that was tried in the Myspace suicide case. In either case it makes something entirely unregulated and undefined like Terms of service, or a user agreement for email, and gives them the force of law. So anyone who doesn't give their full and real name, or even age, or whatever else a website asks for, is potentially liable to be charged with "Illegally accessing a computer." (If the right circumstances after the fact lead to somebody wishing to charge you with something.) This misuse of the law is a tenuous stretch at best, and it will always be selectively applied as a gotcha weapon.

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Of course she'll win.

Cheaters and liars in this country are always rewarded.

I don't know why this should be any different. He'll get screwed, and the whore will do whatever she wants.

~Bang

Letter of the law, I guess. :(

It'll be interesting to see if any reports surface about her custody of the son. I'm thinking husband #1 won't get his justice on that either.

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