E-mail law

I am in the UK, and recently met a lady who I have been seeing for a while. During this time, we shared e-mails during the day to keep in touch.
Unknown to her, her ex partner had installed a keylogger AND remote access software into her PC, and had been reading every word of BOTH our e-mails. Not only this but he had also got all the passwords that she uses, and had been hacking into her e-mail addresses when she was logged out.

Now my question is this...Where do I stand for prosecuting this guy. He has not infringed my Laptop in any way, but he HAS been snooping into e-mails that I had sent in confidence to that lady.

My laptop is secure...proper firewall, virus, and spybot type scanning on the go all the time, and there is nothing that he has been able to put into my machine remotely...I checked.

The really scary thing is....this guy is an IT consultant, running his own business...I sure would like to let his clients know of his attitude and ethics!
Good job I am also a bit of a techy on the side.

Can I sue him then under UK law?

Rudders

I'm not sure how the UK vs US laws differ, but here the isp involved will pursue charges against identity fraud and theft..they just have to have proof first..i.e. catch him in the act. Sounds like a good possibility of a sting operation btw;)
You wouldn't believe how common this is..get two or three machines a month with the same kind of problem

I strongly doubt it.

If the data is on your lady friend's PC, it's her call to start legal proceedings or not. It's not your hardware that was tapped into but hers. The information you sent ceased to be "yours" when you clicked the send button.

I would strongly suggest you both seek legal counsel on this, but I'm positive that only the woman is in a position to do anything about it from a legal point of view.

This guy's reputation is shot if this gets out...

Quote:

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Originally posted by a d e p t
I strongly doubt it.

If the data is on your lady friend's PC, it's her call to start legal proceedings or not. It's not your hardware that was tapped into but hers. The information you sent ceased to be "yours" when you clicked the send button.

I would strongly suggest you both seek legal counsel on this, but I'm positive that only the woman is in a position to do anything about it from a legal point of view.

This guy's reputation is shot if this gets out...

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Good point, I was kind of thinking along those lines as a suggestion, but you identified the ownership of the data better, in that that may be the deciding factor in who can press charges.

I am curious what the content was that you guys were emailing. If it was just hey, how is it going, lets get together kind of stuff, a court will see this as nothing more than a stalking situation on his part. However, if the data shared was confidential, a corporate correspondence if you will, I am sure a few other charges could be drummed up. Or perhaps financial secretes, like credit cards, bank accounts, if he was trying to fleece her or you, he can be charged for that. Finally, his profession may make it possible to use his know-how against him as malicious business conduct. There has to be precedence on some of this…

Thanx guys for your input.

The only things we passed to each other were stuff like, arranging dates, swapping telephone and mobile numbers, and at the beginning, swapping data about each other such as past lives, work experiences etc...that sort of thing, nothing sordid, and no financial stuff either.

One thing does bug me though...he had access to the e-mails that she sent to me, so going on what you say, THOSE e-mails are MY property, so is there a case along those lines perhaps?

It isn't in my nature to be vengeful, so I am not likely to want to affect his business...as long as he stays out of my way from now on! What worries me now is, he has my address, tel Numbers, and all of my IPs too.

Rudders

Quote:

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Originally posted by Rudders
...One thing does bug me though...he had access to the e-mails that she sent to me, so going on what you say, THOSE e-mails are MY property, so is there a case along those lines perhaps?...

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Unless the perp got the data straight from your own PC, it's still her call. It's a question of which hardware was accessed, not who own the information, as such.

Good luck with that.

I hope you guys nail him for this serious breach of privacy.

Quote:

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Originally posted by a d e p t
Unless the perp got the data straight from your own PC, it's still her call. It's a question of which hardware was accessed, not who own the information, as such.

Good luck with that.

I hope you guys nail him for this serious breach of privacy.

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From the way he keeps asking what he can do on his own, it sounds like either they broke up or she isn't interested in pressing charges...

BTW, how did he access the keylogs, unless his prog automatically sent him updates when she was on the internet...??

Nope, we didn't break up ! Still seeing each other.

He had a keylogger and e-mail sender prog to get all stuff from the display and keyboard stuff sent to his office machines AND his handheld!
He also had a utility to get into the machine remotely if it was switched on.

He need a slap!


Rudders

Quote:

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Originally posted by Rudders
Thanx guys for your input.

The only things we passed to each other were stuff like, arranging dates, swapping telephone and mobile numbers, and at the beginning, swapping data about each other such as past lives, work experiences etc...that sort of thing, nothing sordid, and no financial stuff either.

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Past lives? You dating Shirley McClaine? j/k

I would say that it's up to her to bring this to the proper authorities. As much as you want to protect your own interests as well as hers, this is a result of unresolved issues in her past. If she is unable or unwilling to remedy that, I hate to say it but, you might want to think of moving on to a less complicated relationship.

Sometimes a good baseball bat is an effective tool.

I'm not really sure where the law is on this, that's why you really need a lawyer. However you're right, if news of this ever leaked out his business would be finished.

Think of it:

Headline "It Security Software Salesman Caught Hacking into Former Lover's Email?"


Just for the hell of it why don't you right a letter, not email, to your local newspaper?

Its a lot safer than a baseball bat and a lot cheaper than a lawyer! - it would also cause more damage than either...

:D

Then you just have to have the evidence in order to avoid the Libel action.....

why not just format the machine if ya dont know what he put in there then back up the important data and format it
then all the nasty software is gone and you arent being spied on


then find him and beat him :D

that's a bit extreme, if you know the program and can delete then do so, now..
if not then get a firewall that blocks programs.

I use kerio, it says' 'blah program is accessing the internet" would you like to allow, block permit this once....
if you need help setting this up, we will help you out..
kerio


have fun

Beat his a$$ Sleath Ninja style...Do it all covert & stuff :flames: Only playing...I think you & your lady friend should check out some form of legal counseling. Bust him up all legal like :)