A Michigan father faces up to five years in prison for snooping in his then-wife’s e-mail account in the first known domestic case for unauthorized e-mail login.
Leon Walker, 33, a computer technician from Rochester Hills, Michigan, easily logged into his then-wife’s Gmail account last year when he suspected she was having an affair with her second husband (she was). The two shared a laptop at home and, according to Walker, his wife kept her passwords in a notebook next to the computer, AP reports.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Leon Walker was Clara Walker’s third husband. When he discovered she was having an affair with her second husband, a man arrested for beating her up in front of her son with her first husband, Leon Walker sent the e-mails to the child’s father, who immediately claimed emergency custody.
Clara Walker, who divorced Leon Walker earlier this month, promptly filed felony charges for the e-mail “theft.” Her complaint was approved by Michigan DA Jessica Cooper and the jury will decide Leon Walker’s fate when he goes to trial in February.
“The guy is a hacker,” Oakland prosecutor Jessica Cooper said in public statements. “It was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way.”
Walker’s defense attorney, Leon Weiss, fired back, “I have to ask: ‘Don’t the prosecutors have more important things to do with their time?’”
The statute Walker allegedly violated, 752.795, is the same one used to prosecute identify theft or stealing of trade secrets.
It reads in part:
A person shall not intentionally and without authorization or by exceeding valid authorization do any of the following:
(a) 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.
Article source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374794,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121
Category: Prison Time