Man Faces Five Years in Jail, For Reading Wife’s Emails

SH*T!

Interesting case; Rochester Hills man Leon Walker has been charged with unlawfully reading his wife’s emails – which showed she was having an affair with her violent second husband. Unlawful sure, but give the guy a break.

Walker forwarded the emails to the woman’s first husband, who is the father of her son, out of a sense of duty for the protection of the child—but now faces a possible five-year jail term for breaking a Michigan identity fraud law. No exceptions to the rule? Harsh.

A legal gray area is expected to be probed by the case, thanks to the nature of the snooping. Walker accessed his wife’s emails on a laptop he claims the family shared, using a password she stored in a book next to the computer. It wasn’t exactly high-level hacking.

FREE LEON WALKER!

HOLY SHITE! FIVE YEARS! That kind of scares me…he wasn’t hacking and certainly not with mal-intent, damn. E-snooping maybe. The thing is, if I ever get married, I’d let my woman know all my passwords, big deal, what I don’t understand is the severity of this ruling considering the two were married and the woman was in the deep-end of wrong.

How is Adultery, which in Michigan is Punishable by Life in Prison, less of an offence compared to low-level Identity Fraud? Sue a victim instead of going after the possible domestic abuse case involving a child and a cheating, stupid woman? I believe the Prosecutor is wrong in this case.

About 45% of divorce cases involve some snooping – and gathering – of e-mail, Facebook and other online material. But those are generally used by the warring parties for civil reasons – not for criminal prosecution.

Entertaining thoughts of another guy is one thing, but to act on such a thought and cheat is the next big step and she took it. No empathy. I don’t think five years for this man is fair – At all. Poor fella.

Give Leon a courtesy or an award, one of the few hack cases in which the hacker stumbles upon something accidental but truthful. Which was a sad realization in the case of his marriage, and more so considering all this got him was a five-year jail sentence. (Government scare tactics?)

Yes, privacy is a basic right, but whose right is it to judge the internal intentions of people and conclude with a closed-case ruling based only on comparison of actions and not quality of life?

I like democracy, but I can’t help but think the way I do, and entertain the idea that this was another showboat case specifically ruled to set an example for the law withstanding. Internet privacy being a universal asset especially within the Government and a sex crazed cynical only burdening the one; ‘sacrifice the few for the many’ is the only way I can make sense of this story, and the ridiculous ruling. Very Democratic Underground – Hackers beware… Hmm, is this too morbid for le blog?

Michigan statute 752.795 reads, in part:

“A person shall not intentionally and without authorization or by exceeding valid authorization do any of the following:

“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.”

Note-to-self: be more careful *sniggers* and end this post right now!