What do you know about the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)? You may not have heard of it, but if it’s violated due to acting on suspicions about a spouse, you could be creating more problems than what you may already be going through in a troubled marriage. It’s difficult to not let emotions take over when contemplating or proceeding with a divorce, especially if you are not the one to initiate it. Emotions can be irrational and get in the way of achieving the best outcome for both parties, so it’s important to know your legal boundaries if you are concerned about a spouse’s possible infidelity or illegal activities to the point where you feel you should start your own investigation.
You may be inclined to start collecting what you perceive to be incriminating information in order to protect yourself and use it as evidence in a divorce proceeding. You might think it’s a good idea to record your spouse’s private conversations (in-person, online, phone) or get into his/her email or private functions of social media accounts to try to find out what’s going on. Not good ideas. Briefly, the ECPA is a federal law that prohibits wiretapping and various forms of electronic surveillance, including between family members and spouses. Recording a private conversation between parties without their direct consent is a violation of this law, as is snooping around in a spouse’s private email or online account without express consent. The use of these tactics is illegal, and any “evidence” obtained from them is inadmissible in court. And the legal implications of violating the ECPA can be extremely harsh and can include fines, payment for damages, and imprisonment.
As a matter of fact, there may be state laws that a “do it yourselfer” surely will be violating as well.
Before you take on investigating suspicious behavior, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the ECPA in order to avoid getting into a situation where the result doesn’t serve your best interest. This is their link: https://epic.org/ecpa/
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