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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.'"

1 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Re:the USA PATRIOT act by Tackhead · · Score: 1, Redundant
    > > violated Florida's wiretapping law - which states that it is criminal to 'intentionally intercept' any 'electronic communication.
    >
    >hang on, doesnt the USA PATRIOT act allow the government to do exactly this? inspect your electronic communications? i'm no expert on US law, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong...

    Well, yes. But the Patriot Act governs the relationship between government and taxpayer, not husband and wife. You're making a circular argument -- it's criminal to do things that the laws don't allow. Because the Patriot act is a law, whatever it permits is legal, by definition, at least until/unless the Supremes overturn the overreaching sections thereof.

    To recap:

    No matter how much you think citizens own the government, it's legal for the government to spy on its property (you).

    Conversely, no matter how much you realize your wife owns you (her husband), it's still not legal for her to spy on her property.

    But either way, you're 0wn3d.