Electronic Spying and Divorce

When relationships become strained, parties tend to resort to extreme measures to document what is occurring,. This may include electronic spying on their spouse or significant other.  Use of recording technology has its benefits. It also has its risks.

 

Why Would Parties Spy

There are many reasons that electronic recording may occur.  

• Some people wish to verify whether their spouse or significant other is cheating. While infidelity is often irrelevant to the legal issues, it can verify suspicions that the relationship is not what the recording party thought it to be.
• Often abuse occurs behind closed doors with few witnesses. Recordings a can aid victims in proving that abuse is occurring when it is not apparent.
• False Allegations. Similarly, to protect against false allegations recording may occur to document actual events, and counter the hyperbole that is often presented in family law cases.
• Hidden Assets. Electronic recording can sometimes capture evidence of removing or hiding assets.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

There are significant legal  issues related to electronic surveillance.

 

In our world of AI and Deep Fakes, surreptitious recording can often be manipulated to frame the evidence it captures in an edited or manipulated fashion that does not catch the reality of the situation.  Since a picture is often worth a thousand wors, as they say, demonstrating that manipulation or editing has occurred, can be a costly a difficulty way to defend against recorded evidence.

Some recording is illegal.

 

Audio Recordings. Minnesota is a one party state with regard to audio recordings. That means, a person can only record private conversations in which they are involved.  Recording private conversations between others is a felony.  For example, placing a recording device on a telephone to capture the call through a device or an App would be illegal. That is true even if the phone was a land line located in your own home.  Other states preclude recording of private conversations  without notifying all parties to the conversation Thes are called two-party states. 

Video Recordings. These days small , easy to hide, pin cameras are easy to purchase. However, every state has laws that restrict the use of hidden cameras.  In Minnesota, you cannot install a camera in any area where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, the obvious locations would be a bathroom or a bedroom. It is also illegal to surreptitiously through the window of a home intending to intrude on privacy whether done in person, by placed device or even a drone.  

Stalkerware. Stalkerware that is surreptitiously placed can be illegal.  Stalkerware  is monitoring software that can be used to secretly monitor a device’s activity without the user’s knowledge.  Stalkerware can be installed on a computer, tablet, smartphone, or other device and may allow a person to access everything on a device. This can occur on the device of a party or even a child. 

 

To effectively navigate the laws related to recorded evidence, call us for a free consultation.