Palin’s Email Hacked

 Earlier this week, computer hackers broke into the private e-mail account of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate.  The hackers posted some of her messages and a long list of contacts on the internet.  The FBI and secret service have launched an investigation, as it is a federal crime under the Electronics Communications Privacy Act to intentionally intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication through the use of an electronic, mechanical, or other device.  The attorneys at the law firm of Leeds, Morelli & Brown, P.C. have seen this type of activity in divorce proceedings, where a spouse taps into an e-mail account in an attempt to uncover an extra marital affair.  Although it may be tempting to break into a spouse’s e-mail or eavesdrop on a conversation, such behavior is unlawful and an invasion of a person’s privacy. 
 
 It is not to say there aren’t lawful avenues to take when introducing a cheating spouse’s e-mails as evidence in a divorce proceeding.  In a recent divorce proceeding in Manhattan, New York Supreme Court Justice Saralee Evans ruled that a wife had broken no laws by accessing files on her husband’s computer which she had recovered from the trunk of a family car.  Read the rest of this entry »