FL Court Rules Against Spouse-Installed Spyware

idobi writes "A Florida court ruled that it was illegal for a wife to install spyware on her husband's computer, in order to catch him in an extramarital affair. The three judge panel barred the woman from using the chat records from being introduced as evidence in the divorce proceedings. The court ruled that the software, Spector, violated Florida's wiretapping law - which states that it is criminal to 'intentionally intercept' any 'electronic communication.'"

Comments

Are logs illegal?

[Anonymous Coward]

So are logs now illegal in Florida? After all, logs are (usually) records of some form of communication which happens electronically.

Re:Are logs illegal?

[Lumpy]

it simply means she had a shitty lawyer.

my divorce in 1996 I owned an ISP. my Ex was having an online affair and the court was happy to look at all her email logs, captured chat sessions and detailed logs of websites and captures of the images and the like.

her lawyer tried the same tricks, the judge threw out the request stating "privately owned computer equipment is not under the jurisdiction of the wiretapping laws."

granted I hired the best lawers in the state but it's still fishy that a judge would accept such a defense tactic.

Now what about...

[Tuxedo Jack]

How about text-sensitive software like Claria and WhenU that track certain websites using URLs through the IE address bar and pop up competitor's ads? Couldn't that be termed wiretapping as well, since it's actively monitoring addresses visited and keystrokes typed into a field?

This sounds the same as a spousal wiretap to me

[davidwr]

I'm sure there are numerous cases in the last 20 years where spouses recorded their home telephone calls in the hopes of catching a cheating spouse.

If this judge's ruling is in line with prior court ruling since the most recent changes in the law, then I don't see the problem.

On the other hand, if he broke with precedent, he could be overturned.

What about an email filter?

[bwindle2]

At my job (in Florida) we maintain an email filter, which isolates in-bound and out-bound emails if they contain certain qualities (either spam-like, or have big attachements, etc).

I wonder if that would mean we are violating that law, since we are clearly intercepting electronic communications?

FBI keylogging factoid

[mveloso]

I just finished reading a computer forensics book, and found out something interesting.

Apparently the FBI can't keylog you while a modem is in operation because of some bizarre issue with phone tapping (something like you can't tap modem communication without a separate warrant). The FBI keylogger actually turns off when a modem is active. How about that?

I guess this sort of the same, but on a local level (and with a broader reach).

Homeland Insecurity

[Baldrson]

it is criminal to 'intentionally intercept' any 'electronic communication.'

So we can conclude that so-called "Homeland Security" -- which routinely intercepts electronic communication without a warrant -- is a criminal organization.

Re:a little twist.

[anagama]

• "No no no... You've obviously never been married. What's his is her's, and what's her's is her's."

Truer words were never spoken. I actually used Spector about 5 years ago. Caught my wife in the middle of an online romance (the $600 phone bills were the real give away) and planning on cheating. Anyway, we got divorced shortly thereafter.

I don't really think Spector and similar programs are "bad" (illegal perhaps), but at the same time, I don't think they are that helpful. Think of it this way: if you use the program and find evidence, most likely the relationship is over. If you do not use the program but the trust issues are so severe you feel like you need to, the relationship is also over. Why not save the trouble and spend the $50 on a new shirt - you'll be dating again soon whether you install it or not. The only purpose Spector serves is fueling a sense of self-righteous indignation -- a new shirt looks a lot nicer on.