Legal Question in Technology Law in California
stolen property & unauthorized access to personal email
this is a complicated situation but here goes....when my boyfriend and i broke up, he stole my laptop and over $2000 worth of my clothes and makeup and other misc items. on a separate note my old roommate stole a brand new gucci wallet ($600) from me when i moved out. well, the roommate and my ex are now living together in a new place. i had been corresponding with my ex in an attempt to get my things back when my old roommate (his new girlfriend) starts sending me text messages demanding to know if i am still talking to him. then she threatened (i still have the text message) to send out naked pics of me from my computer to all my email contacts. i ignored all the texts i recieved figuring that she wouldn't really go thru with it and she would stop. the other day, i was confronted by a guy that i have been casually seeing and am good friends with, about an email that ''i'' had sent him. he said that he doesnt look at me the same anymore and i was obviously extremely embarrassed, speechless, just completely beside myself that she did email my naked pictures, from my email account, from my computer. i dont know who else she emailed but i know ive been violated and there must be recourse. also, my ex has a warrant for his arrest
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: stolen property & unauthorized access to personal email
You do have recourse. You can seek a restraining order against both of these people barring them from using your email address and from distributing your photos.
You can also sue them for theft (technically, your civil lawsuit would be for "conversion"), invasion of privacy, defamation, and possibly many other varieties of wrongful conduct. The problem here is that they likely don't have enough money to pay a large judgment; if I'm right, finding a lawyer willing to work on a contingent fee basis will be quite difficult.
You can also report both of these folks to the police. Many of the actions you describe are criminal and can lead to fines, imprisonment or both.
Good luck.
Re: stolen property & unauthorized access to personal email
You must contact the friend who received the email "from you", or someone else who received the email, and get a printout WITH FULL EMAIL HEADERS. This will reveal what internet IP address the email was really sent from -- spoofing the "From:" line is easy but covering up your IP address isn't. Then find a lawyer who knows what an IP address is, and sue! A net-savvy attorney will look up the sending IP address, subpoena that entity (her ISP) and obtain logs proving that she sent the message. If you consult an attorney and he or she doesn't know what an email header is, consult another attorney.
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