Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: How is accessing online records of another individual charged?

Merely accessing the information is not enough to qualify as a crime, but if the husband thereby obtains information that he didn't already have and uses it against the wife, he might be charged with unauthorized access to computer files in violation of Penal Code section 502.

I say "might" because the statute only applies to unauthorized access, and I believe that the authorization he needs is that of the cell phone company and not the wife. (I actually have a client facing such a charge right now, and we are fighting the charges over this very issue.) If he had a right to access the data -- perhaps because spouses have this right or because he pays the bills -- then there is no violation. It might matter how far along the divorce had progressed when this happened, since most spousal rights diminish at various stages of the divorce process.