Legal Question in Technology Law in California
Is changing a client's password and removing their Web site illegal?
We had a client ask us to redesign his Web page. We redesigned it from the ground up. We stored his old site in a folder on the server, in case he didn't pay.
Time passed. He stopped communicating with us for about a week after we asked for payment. Then, once we got in contact with him, he said that he'd pay us in the next week. He didn't, and he gave an excuse about how his ''oversees check'' hadn't cleared, and he told us to wait another week.
We waited yet another week, and I finally decided to just cut him off. I did not warn him that I was going to turn off the site. I made the following changes:
A.) I deleted all the work I had done;
B.) I changed his password as a safety precaution;
C.) I put up the following message on his site: ''This site has been removed because its redesign has not been paid for. It will be reinstated once payment has been made in full.''
He got his password back somehow and restored the site to its previous condition (since I left a copy of the site on their server).
He sent me an e-mail later, saying that I caused him to lose thousands of dollars, that the message on the site embarrassed his business and his clients, and that what I had done was illegal.
Was it?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Is changing a client's password and removing their Web site illegal?
Probably not. Without having looked at your agreement, I am guessing that any work you did was probably done, at most, on a "work for hire" basis. However, that requires that the "hirer" actually pay you for your services. Given that this is not the case here, my preliminary thoughts are that he doesn't have a viable action against you. That doesn't mean he won't sue you or that you won't have to hire an attorney to defend yourself in a lawsuit. Only that, based on these facts, I think it's improbable that he would succeed.
Re: Is changing a client's password and removing their Web site illegal?
What you did won't get you sued, but it won't get you paid either. The reason you had this problem is because you didn't have your client sign a well-written contract, one that you paid a lawyer to draft, that covers situations like these.
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