People going through divorce, custody or any legal skirmish take heed: electronic evidence from text messages, e-mail, instant messaging, and gleaned from networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Linked-in, is increasingly showing up in court. Evidence from electronic media can be used to document cheating, stalking, hidden assets, fraud and any other pertinent information attorneys and jury consultants may find.
If you think these forms of communication are private and safe, think again. Think, for example, of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, charged with numerous felonies on the basis of text-message evidence. Skytel, the service provider for Detroit city-owned cell phones, effortlessly retrieved 14,000 cell phone text messages that were sent four-to-six years ago, and these now form the foundation for the charges against Kilpatrick. If you e-mail, text message or otherwise communicate electronically on a government or employer-owned medium, every word you utter may be stored and retrievable.
Messages sent on individual or public (library, internet café) cell phones, computers or e-mail are no safer from discovery. Although Verizon, AT&T and Sprint state that they store text messages only for about two weeks or “not a long period” (whatever that means), hackers, police and private investigators frequently have retrieved old messages archived on carrier servers. Several software products are now sold which allow private individuals to secretly access and spy on others’ (such as a spouse’s) e-mail accounts. A Google survey reported that 27% of men and 21% of women had secretly prowled through someone else’s e-mail. Simple radio kits can also be purchased which let anyone intercept text messages, such as the Wal-Mart employee caught spying on a New York Times reporter. And of course, every bit of information put on blogs or social network sites is no more than a few clicks away from access by anyone.
What can be done to protect one’s electronic privacy? Primarily, never put anything on any electronic medium which you would not want published on the front page of the newspaper – not your PIN number, password, bank and asset information, those feelings of murder in your heart toward your ex, nor photos of the fun and tipsy night out at the local honky-tonk. Put passwords on your phone, wireless network and computer accounts to keep unwanted snoopers out. Erase all personal data from cell phones before recycling or discarding, using the phone manufacturers’ master reset instructions, which can be found on company websites. Just removing a SIM card does not remove a cell phone’s data history.
Remember, also, that whatever measures you take to safeguard your electronic utterances, none of it matters if the person to whom the text message or e-mail is sent has been less careful. Once information is posted or sent electronically, the sender has lost all control over where the information may wind up.
The only surefire guarantee your privacy won’t be invaded electronically is to keep private matters off electronic systems. If divorce, paternity, custody or other family law problems arise, the family law attorneys at Sterling Law Office are equipped to help resolve those problems, and to protect clients from electronic prying which could torpedo them in court.
Posted by Mary Wreford; Approved by Lea Ann Sterling, Esq., August 29, 2008
The information presented in this article is for general information only and should not be construed to be legal advice.