Unauthorized Access To Stored Computer Files Password Or Pin(s)
Accessing e-mails or computer files by a spouse with the help of PIN(s) or Password of the other, but without their permission, is a clear violation of the Wiretap Statute. Nevertheless, it is a violation only if the information is in the transmission stage and not if it is in the post-transmission storage. Additionally, such illegal access of computer-related theft could summon criminal penalties too, under the aegis of a common-law tort of invasion of seclusion or invasion of privacy.
What is Wiretap Violation?
The basic rule of Wiretap Violation of the New Jersey Wiretap and Electronic Surveillance Control Act is that it is illegal to intercept any electronic, wire, or oral communications through mechanical, electronic, or any other devices. (N.J.S.A. 2A:156A-1, et seq). Hence, a spouse recording or retrieving e-mail transmissions or any other communication of the other spouse is an illegal act.
Nevertheless, there is an exception to this. A New Jersey trial court upholds that retrieving stored e-mail from the hard drive of the family’s computer does not amount to any...
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