Any offence here? If so what?
Any offence here? If so what?
Author
Discussion

Mill Wheel

Original Poster:

6,149 posts

227 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Hi.... Been asked to enquire by a friend, but I think I have all the relevant details.

Is it an offence for an ex partner to log into somebody's email and ebay account in order to spy on what they are doing/spending money on?
No mails have been deleted, or purchases made - and the person concerned has not altered the login details yet, in case they needed to catch the ex partner "in the act", so is using another account to preserve their privacy when required.

They are using login details shared when they were married.

If so, WHAT is the offence, and to whom should this be reported?

Thanking you in advance!

Pie with sauce

83 posts

144 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Mill Wheel said:
Any offence here? If so what?
Stupidity?


Mill Wheel said:
the person concerned has not altered the login details yet, in case they needed to catch the ex partner "in the act",
Your "friend" does not know if your (sorry) his ex has been spying? But is just suspicious? And hasn't changed the log in details yet?



agtlaw

7,419 posts

237 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Computer Misuse Act 1990.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

157 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
What is their actual aim here?

To stop the ex-partner doing it?
Or to gain some sort of petty revenge by seeing them nicked?

If the former, just change the flamin' passwords, get on with life, and enjoy the view from the moral highground.
If the latter, leave them to it and don't got caught up in their sorry mess.

Mill Wheel

Original Poster:

6,149 posts

227 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Pie with sauce said:
Mill Wheel said:
Any offence here? If so what?
Stupidity?


Mill Wheel said:
the person concerned has not altered the login details yet, in case they needed to catch the ex partner "in the act",
Your "friend" does not know if your (sorry) his ex has been spying? But is just suspicious? And hasn't changed the log in details yet?
I'm still happily married!
wink
They know the accounts have been accessed, as information has been shared via a third party that can only have been discovered from viewing the accounts... ebay purchases and a change of mobile number!
It had not occurred to them that the login details had been shared in the past - aside from ebay, all financial details HAD been changed.

Mill Wheel

Original Poster:

6,149 posts

227 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
agtlaw said:
Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Many thanks for that.

pork911

7,365 posts

214 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
if your friend is that concerned (but not enough to change the details?) tell them to go to the police (why do you need to know what the specific offence may be and who to report it to??)

...and while they are at it take all their computers etc so the police can have a good look through them aswell.



or tell them to stop being a dick and change their details

Mill Wheel

Original Poster:

6,149 posts

227 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
What is their actual aim here?

To stop the ex-partner doing it?
Or to gain some sort of petty revenge by seeing them nicked?

If the former, just change the flamin' passwords, get on with life, and enjoy the view from the moral highground.
If the latter, leave them to it and don't got caught up in their sorry mess.
I'm only the messenger - but as they could easily change the passwords, I'm guessing it's the latter, and they either want to make an example of their ex partner after a lot of provocation from them over the divorce, or to let the ex know that they have committed an offence and should consider backing off from the harassment they have been causing since the split... that would make their moral high ground evident.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

157 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Mill Wheel said:
I'm only the messenger - but as they could easily change the passwords, I'm guessing it's the latter, and they either want to make an example of their ex partner after a lot of provocation from them over the divorce, or to let the ex know that they have committed an offence and should consider backing off from the harassment they have been causing since the split... that would make their moral high ground evident.
Sometimes, I think divorce lawyers probably earn every single penny...

Cyberprog

2,326 posts

214 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Depends on your email providor. I've checked logs for similar actions before now and given clients the log entries relating to logins for their accounts.

Mr GrimNasty

8,172 posts

201 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Mill Wheel said:
They are using login details shared when they were married.!
So who is accessing whose account? Surely the answer is just to change the password?

Anyway, potentially comes under stalking/harassment.

PoF Act 2012 "d)monitoring the use by a person of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication,."


marshalla

15,902 posts

232 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Possibly also some communications interception offences if the "observer" is reading messages sent via ebay.

Bigends

6,195 posts

159 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Maybe unauthorised access to computer material. Police should at least record and take a look

johnfm

13,751 posts

281 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Wife's friend does this with her ex - 2 years after the divorce.

She was checking his emails during the divorce - and he could't understand how her lawyer kept bringing up certain issues/assets that he thought he'd kept secret!

He was email his mum and brother about shifting certain assets here and there - completely unaware she was snooping.

Pretty low (and totally illegal) - but that's scorned women for you!

Mind you, he was a bit of a prick anyway.

pork911

7,365 posts

214 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
johnfm said:
Wife's friend does this with her ex - 2 years after the divorce.

She was checking his emails during the divorce - and he could't understand how her lawyer kept bringing up certain issues/assets that he thought he'd kept secret!

He was email his mum and brother about shifting certain assets here and there - completely unaware she was snooping.

Pretty low (and totally illegal) - but that's scorned women for you!

Mind you, he was a bit of a prick anyway.
clearly he was - did he really have the gall to moan about her finding out about him wanting to shift assets? how long and how many revelations from his ex wife's lawyer did it take for the penny to drop? (or has it still not?)

aw51 121565

4,773 posts

264 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
quotequote all
Alternative view:

Jilted partner can still not believe that their ex has still not changed the password(s) for online resources they once shared... Said ex will be micturating in their pants every time they realise wink (and redface & frown ).

Keeping the same password in the short term "to trap the ex" is one thing (and as such debatable wink ); keeping it for some years (as posted at least once upthread), posting important stuff at any time then arguably getting defaecated-upon 'whenever' is (expletive-deleted) lunacy silly .

Where to draw the line?? nuts

Best to be transparent teflon and change passwords ASAP; call me a cynic wink .

Gareth79

9,141 posts

277 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
quotequote all
As mentioned, definitely an offence under the Computer Misuse Act but I think it would be incredibly hard to get any police/CPS interest unless the access was in some way abused actual gain. Some sort of harassment action would be the easier way to go.

So, just change the passwords and move on. For proof though, GMail has an activity log (in the footer), and Facebook has an activity log here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=security&amp...

Mk3Spitfire

2,921 posts

159 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
quotequote all
aw51 121565 said:
Alternative view:

Jilted partner can still not believe that their ex has still not changed the password(s) for online resources they once shared... Said ex will be micturating in their pants every time they realise wink (and redface & frown ).

Keeping the same password in the short term "to trap the ex" is one thing (and as such debatable wink ); keeping it for some years (as posted at least once upthread), posting important stuff at any time then arguably getting defaecated-upon 'whenever' is (expletive-deleted) lunacy silly .

Where to draw the line?? nuts

Best to be transparent teflon and change passwords ASAP; call me a cynic wink .
I think you win today's prize for overuse of smilies!

ging84

9,548 posts

177 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
quotequote all
Why do people get so hung up about something looks like a crime so i must get the police involved

What would you do if an ex partner had a key to your house and you thought they may have let themselves in while your were out but not taken anything that didn't belong to them or done anything worrying stalkerish ?
a) change the fking locks and move on
b) set up some sort of nanny cam so you can catch them in the act of letting themselves into their old house with their key and expect anyone to give a st about the evidence you show them
c) report it to the police, and expect them to do anything other than fk all
d) consider b or c, but ask a friend to go on the internet and ask some strangers for advice on which one of the 2 is better.

I don't even know where i am going with this any more, other than to say, tell your friend to change their password and move on, stop trying to figure out ways to spend tax payer's money getting back at your ex

Martin4x4

6,506 posts

163 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
quotequote all
agtlaw said:
Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Um, this is an act, not an offence.

An offence under section 1 is very questionable because as the OP said these were shared login details. That would IMHO make very tough to argue it was "unauthorised".

The computer resource in this case is more similar to joint marital bank account.

I think this is likely a civil matter under divorce law not the Computer Misuse Act.