What seems to be the consensus here? Could you possibly go to jail for spying on a spouses email?

<small>[ March 21, 2004, 02:58 AM: Message edited by: marriage is forever? ]</small>

As far as I know, it depends on what state you are in, or what country for that matter. I think it was in Pennsylvania, a man went to jail for spying on his estranged wife's computer. They were separated and he had put spyware on her computer that e-mailed stuff to his computer.

I think most states consider that if the married people are living in the same home, the computer is shared property. However, most spyware will state that it against the licensing agreement to use it without informing all parties who use the computer that it is up and running.

The question is not so much whether spyware is illegal as to whether e-mail is considered private, i.e. belonging to the person who wrote it. If e-mail is on a shared computer, then it is not private, even if the person who wrote it thinks it is, or thinks it should be. Even if you both have your own computer in your own home, all property in the home is generally considered to be shared property - after all, does the court consider the TV in the bedroom to be his, and the one in the kitchen to be yours? You see what I mean?

I think in the UK, there is no privacy law between individuals - there are laws that prevent the State from spying on you, which are set aside for particular reasons, such as suspicion of terrorism, but there is no privacy law which applies to individuals, so yes, in the UK it is legal to spy on your spouse.

Please correct me, anyone, if I am wrong.

Yeah, I guess it does all depend on where you are at. It seems I have heard that recording telephone conversations between a spouse and someone else is an invasion of privacy and this seems like it would be no different.

I definitly would not want to use spied on emails to confront a spouse and then end up losing my family, job and going to jail.