CBS News and Detroit FreePress report that 33 year old Leon Walker, of Rochester Hills, Michigan, is being charged with felony computer misuse and could receive up to 5 years in prison for logging onto his now ex-wife's email with their shared laptop. Leon suspected his ex-wife, Clara, was cheating and her emails confirmed that she was indeed having an affair with her second husband.
There is a law against snooping into someone's email using their password. That's good. We wouldn't want someone getting into our email, right? However, in this case Clara's second husband -- the one she was having the affair with -- was arrested earlier for beating her in front of her child!
I believe this law (the felony computer misuse) was created to protect our privacy. Good thing. However, doesn't it bother you that this prosecuter is trying to get Mr. Walker when first any kind of investigating into an alleged affair, is going to involve some snooping (ie. following the person, taking pictures, etc. -- isn't that stalking?). Also, this laptop was shared by the two (Leon and Clara) when married. Second, a child was present during a domestic violence episode and therefore, even if Mr. Walker was using this snooping for his own selfishness -- to catch his then cheating wife -- it may have provided protection for this child, and even Clara.
Laws benefit citizens, but they need to be applied correctly. Some laws, though, are just plain crazy. Consider one Michigan law that states:
"It is legal for a robber to file a law suit, if he or she got hurt in your house."
What!? Now if an invited friend, the letter carrier, or even a sales person gets hurt on your property, you rightly have some liability -- but a robber? Come on!
Another crazy law that just got repealed in 2006 was:
"There is a 3 cent bounty for each starling and 10 cent bounty for each crow killed in any village, township, or city in the state."
With all the birds falling from the sky lately it looks like someone is not aware that this law was repealed. But that's another story...
What's your take on this? Should Mr. Walker be prosecuted with this felony?
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