Legal Question in Technology Law in Missouri

Re: Email stealing

There are such laws. They are federal, and under the jurisdiction of the United States Attorney. Report a crime of which you have solid evidence to the FBI, in the blue pages of your phone book under federal government.

Re: Email stealing

Yes, there are a number of laws to protect against unauthorized computer access, some of them criminal, some are federal and some are state laws.

However, before its possible to give an answer to your question, more information is needed in order to understand whether or not what your "soon-to-be-ex" did is actually a violation of any of those laws. A good start would be whether or not you are presently legal separated pursuant to an order by the court. Typically, a divorce court will issue temporary orders at the commencement of a case in order to freeze the status quo and make any adjustments that may be deemed necessary during the pendency of the case. If such orders have been issued in your case, and if those orders make it clear that your soon-to-be-ex is not to have access to your office and/or your office computer, then you may have grounds to pursue criminal charges and civil claims against him.

As for email itself, it is typically the owner of the system who has the "expectancy of privacy" interest in their own email. Hence, you may also have a viable invasion of privacy claim.

You may first, however, want to discuss all of this with your family lawyer to see if your soon-to-be-ex has not already violated a temporary order of the court and, if not, whether it would be advisable to present a motion in family court for a TRO against your soon-to-be-ex's intrusions.

Re: Email stealing

If you are living together and sharing the computer, you don't really have a privacy interest (although if it was password-protected, etc. then you can certainly argue it).

Still, if you were NOT living together at the time, then you need to get a Court order forcing him to give the material back to you, and preventing him from using it in court. Then, get a protective order keeping him out of your property.

particularly in no-fault states, you will get a divorce without regard to fault and any evidence from teh computer HAS to relate to some issue before the court.

Be pre-emptive and get into court FIRST, before he attempts to use it. Show to the couret that his sole purpose was to harass you and that he is to be enjoined from getting into your accounts (please tell me you have changed your passwords already!) and because of his misbehavior, prevented from using ANYTHING from your accounts as evidence in front of that court as a sanction. Ask for attorney fees as well, and be ready to tell the court in general what's in the emails, because s/he's gonna want to know what sort of violation has occurred.