E-Mail Fair Game in New York Divorce Case
With our growing reliance on communication tools that evolve
in years instead of decades, the legal system can sometimes struggle to fully protect
our rights into cyberspace. Sometimes,
it has trouble just determining those rights. Case in point: the case of Vladimir and
Yelena Gurevich, married in 1990 and divorcing this year.
According to the New York Law Journal, the judge presiding
over the divorce has ruled that Ms. Gurevich can use e-mails she found in
Mr. Gurevich’s e-mail account as proof that he attempted to hide his income from
the divorce court.
The judge presiding over the case, Jeffrey S. Sunshine, was
asked to rule on whether or not Ms. Gurevich’s removal of the e-mails from her
husband’s e-mail account constituted "eavesdropping." Justice Sunshine ruled that while New York
penal law prohibits individuals from "intercepting" e-mails in transit from
sender to recipient, that law did not apply to this case. Ms. Gurevich
used her husband’s password information to view e-mails received and stored
within the account.
Inside, she found e-mails that she alleges prove that her
husband intended to hide his true income, in conjunction with an accountant and
several business partners. She reportedly accessed the account without her husband’s knowledge
or consent, and Mr. Gurevich contested that printed copies of the e-mails were
inadmissible as evidence, but the judge’s ruling will allow Ms. Gurevich’s
attorneys to introduce the e-mails as evidence.
According to Mr. Gurevich, the e-mails were stolen, but his
wife contends that since he had previously given her permission to access the
e-mail account and never revoked it, her access was lawful. At the core of the issue is the notion of
consent.
If you allow someone to access
your e-mail account once, does that permission remain in effect? Are you required to expressly state that your
spouse can no longer access your e-mail? What about your password? Is a
person entitled to continue to use a password you gave them until you change
it?
While many would argue that Ms. Gurevich violated the law in
spirit, the statute on the books only covers intercepted e-mails, e-mails
diverted to an account that the sender did not intend. According to the judge, since Ms. Gurevich
had been given access to the intended account (her husband’s), her act did not
constitute "eavesdropping."
As the
courts address more and more issues that deal with new and emerging communication
methods, the above questions may be answered in legal terms, but for now anyone
going through a divorce must actively protect their personal information.
Divorcing couples may want to take thorough stock of shared
user information and separate it into two components, one for each party. Just as divorcing couples quickly move to
change joint credit cards, e-mail passwords, Web
identities and shared logins represent potential opportunities for one party to
take advantage of the other.
As you go
through a divorce, chances are that you will be concerned about protecting your
material assets. Don’t forget to change
the locks that guard your digital property as well.
Source: Law.com
