Last Updated on September 3, 2024
Sometimes people worry their partner may be cheating and decide to spy on their spouse or lover to find out the truth. In the past, that often meant checking their letters, listening to phone conversations on another phone connected to the home’s landline, or hiring a private investigator to watch the potential cheater, but nowadays, keeping tabs on your partner can be as simple as just picking up their cell phone and looking at their messages and apps. Unfortunately for those hoping to find proof of their partner’s infidelity, it is an illegal invasion of privacy to look through someone’s phone without their consent in California.
Accessing a Phone Without Permission
Under California law, snooping on someone’s cell phone violates statutes against accessing a computer without permission. While the law’s title specifies computers, even hacking into a server, such as someone’s email or social media account, qualifies, as do cell phones. The law does not provide an exception for situations where one partner paid for the phone and phone service as long as the phone is considered the personal property of another. Similarly, just because your spouse permitted you to use their phone in the past doesn’t mean you can access it to spy on them without their consent.
Is it a Felony to go Through Someone’s Phone?
This crime is a wobbler, meaning it can be charged as a felony, misdemeanor, or even an infraction. In most cases where a spouse uses a phone to keep tabs on their partner, it is charged as an infraction. When charged as an infraction, accessing your partner’s phone without permission can result in a fine of up to $1,000. As a misdemeanor, the crime is punishable by up to 1 year in jail and a fine of $5,000.
More serious charges for accessing a computer or server without permission are typically reserved for those who commit the crime for something more nefarious, such as stealing financial information. As a result, romantic snooping is unlikely to result in felony charges.
However, when a jilted lover does something to destroy or alter the data on her partner’s phone, this is considered to harm the other party, so these situations can result in felony charges. When charged as a felony, the crime is punishable by up to 3 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Is it Illegal to Hack Your Spouse’s Phone?
Yes. Accessing their phone, social media, or email accounts without consent is a crime. However, if you go beyond that and install an app or malware designed to forward texts, emails, social media messages, or phone recordings to their cell, you can face additional charges under the state’s wiretapping laws.
Note that simply listening to one side of your partner’s telephone call is not illegal unless the call is made in a place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy. So, for example, if they’re sitting in the living room talking to their lover, you would not be breaking the law if you stood in the hallway and listened.
Wiretapping can be a felony or misdemeanor, resulting in up to 3 years in prison when charged as a felony or a maximum sentence of 1 year in jail when charged as a misdemeanor. Most first-offense crimes involving jilted lovers are filed as misdemeanors.
Installing a GPS tracking app on your someone’s phone without their permission could also result in your facing criminal charges for cyberstalking.
Defenses for Spying Crimes
The two strongest defenses for these crimes are claiming that you actually had permission to use and look at your partner’s phone or denying that you used the phone at all. Obviously, you cannot use both of these defenses simultaneously. Since being proven to lie can harm your case, anyone accused of snooping on someone’s cell phone should contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Remember that what you say can harm your case, especially if you don’t know the full extent of the evidence against you. In many cases though, if your partner gave you their password or didn’t have a lock screen on their phone, you may be able to argue that you either had their ongoing permission or that they did not expect to maintain privacy on their device. Just because someone gives you their passcode one time does not mean they have consented to let you access the phone whenever you want.
Is it Illegal to Go Through Your Child’s Phone?
While it is ordinarily illegal to go through someone’s phone or text messages without consent or to track someone using the GPS on their phone, California laws allow an exception for parents of minors under 18. However, this exception expires when they become a legal adult.
Can an Employer Snoop on their Employees’ Phones?
The other exception to the state’s laws barring spying on the devices of others is employers who want to keep tabs on their workers. However, this is only legal if the employer owns the cell phone and has informed their employee that their text messages, emails, calls, or other information sent through the phone will be monitored.
If you have been accused of violating the law by snooping on another person’s cell phone, please call defense lawyer Peter M. Liss at (760) 643-4050.
