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FL Court Rules Against Spouse-Installed Spyware

Posted by timothy on from the well-that's-nice-of-them dept.

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.'"

4 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Are logs illegal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    1. Re:Are logs illegal? by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  2. This sounds the same as a spousal wiretap to me by davidwr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  3. Homeland Insecurity by Baldrson · · Score: 5, Interesting
    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.

    --
    Seastead this.