Is it legal to read another person's private Facebook messages?

[chiquitabanana]

You don't know that he didn't tell her

Exactly, so she very well could have hacked his account. AND I do not know if she was the one that did it, or her cohort in all of this nonsense. I know they are searching for private information on the emails to use against us.

 

[Zigner]

Exactly, so she very well could have hacked his account. AND I do not know if she was the one that did it, or her cohort in all of this nonsense. I know they are searching for private information on the emails to use against us.

Use against you to what end?

 

[quincy]

I'm his sister.
And there is no evidence that he didn't share it, I just assumed that she knew because she is his wife. She is not a very nice person, and while he was living he did not allow her onto his site and often shared secrets with me privately. He was unhappy in their relationship and he would often mention his unhappiness with her, and often said "don't tell xxxx" on the messages so I know that she was not privy to our conversations.

With this additional information, it does not sound like there is any invasion of privacy action that can be pursued.

If people have confidential information to communicate, they should do so orally. Committing it to writing can be a mistake.

 

[chiquitabanana]

Use against you to what end?

We had a mutual friend who had a verbal agreement with witnesses, and possibly a written agreement to keep a piece of property of my brother's. I know that the wife and her cohort are trying to find evidence to take such property away from the friend. The medical records I don't know what she would do since she does not have a good relationship with me and has been active in lashing out against me publicly. I am trying to have my I's dotted and my T's crossed and know my rights.

 

[Zigner]

We had a mutual friend who had a verbal agreement with witnesses, and possibly a written agreement to keep a piece of property of my brother's. I know that the wife and her cohort are trying to find evidence to take such property away from the friend. The medical records I don't know what she would do since she does not have a good relationship with me and has been active in lashing out against me publicly. I am trying to have my I's dotted and my T's crossed and know my rights.

In other words, it's really none of your business.

 

[chiquitabanana]

We had a mutual friend who had a verbal agreement with witnesses, and possibly a written agreement to keep a piece of property of my brother's. I know that the wife and her cohort are trying to find evidence to take such property away from the friend. The medical records I don't know what she would do since she does not have a good relationship with me and has been active in lashing out against me publicly. I am trying to have my I's dotted and my T's crossed and know my rights.

Is there anything that she could do with that information that would be rights for penalty? I have asked that my messages would remain private but then again who knows. I wouldn't put anything passed her.

 

[chiquitabanana]

In other words, it's really none of your business.

I am fully aware that the law does not take into emotions or respect (in some degree).
And again there is a line between unethical and illegal. I just want to be aware of that line in case it is ever crossed.

 

[Silverplum]

Finally.

we had a mutual friend who had a verbal agreement with witnesses, and possibly a written agreement to keep a piece of property of my brother's. I know that the wife and her cohort are trying to find evidence to take such property away from the friend. The medical records i don't know what she would do since she does not have a good relationship with me and has been active in lashing out against me publicly. I am trying to have my i's dotted and my t's crossed and know my rights.

..

 

[chiquitabanana]

Finally.



..

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I definitely know that's a legal issue on their end but that doesn't concern me. If she's trolling the pages for that, and I know she's looking around for whatever she can get, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried using stuff as blackmail. But, blackmail is kind of petty and hard to bring into court.

 

[quincy]

We had a mutual friend who had a verbal agreement with witnesses, and possibly a written agreement to keep a piece of property of my brother's. I know that the wife and her cohort are trying to find evidence to take such property away from the friend. The medical records I don't know what she would do since she does not have a good relationship with me and has been active in lashing out against me publicly. I am trying to have my I's dotted and my T's crossed and know my rights.

It does not sound like anything the wife discovers on her dead husband's Facebook account can result in YOU doing anything, unless you disclosed to your brother something so extremely personal about your life (an affair, a sexual disease, an abortion, whatever) that its disclosure to others would be considered invasive of your privacy.

If the husband owned property that he was trying to keep a secret from his wife, well, he blew it by communicating with you about it through his Facebook account. This secret property could very well belong to her now.

When emails are exchanged, the sender of an email has given control over what is written to the recipient. There is no guarantee that the recipient of the email will not forward the email on to others or disclose its contents to others. Confidential information should not be communicated in an email. When information is published on Facebook, privacy settings alone will not guarantee others will not have access to this information. Confidential information should not be published online.

In order to keep a secret a secret, it should probably not be communicated to anyone at all.

 

[Silverplum]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I definitely know that's a legal issue on their end but that doesn't concern me. If she's trolling the pages for that, and I know she's looking around for whatever she can get, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried using stuff as blackmail. But, blackmail is kind of petty and hard to bring into court.

fi·nal·ly

/ˈfīn(ə)lē/

adverb

after a long time, typically involving difficulty or delay.

 

[chiquitabanana]

fi·nal·ly

/ˈfīn(ə)lē/

adverb

after a long time, typically involving difficulty or delay.

From someone who just lost a brother and a confidant, snarkiness isn't very much appreciated. I'm dealing with enough off the internet.

 

[chiquitabanana]

It does not sound like anything the wife discovers on her dead husband's Facebook account can result in YOU doing anything, unless you disclosed to your brother something so extremely personal about your life (an affair, a sexual disease, an abortion, whatever) that its disclosure to others would be considered invasive of your privacy.

If the husband owned property that he was trying to keep a secret from his wife, well, he blew it by communicating with you about it through his Facebook account. This secret property could very well belong to her now.

When emails are exchanged, the sender of an email has given control over what is written to the recipient. There is no guarantee that the recipient of the email will not forward the email on to others or disclose its contents to others. Confidential information should not be communicated in an email. When information is published on Facebook, privacy settings alone will not guarantee others will not have access to this information. Confidential information should not be published online.

In order to keep a secret a secret, it should probably not be communicated to anyone at all.

Ok thank you. Someone suggested that we ask for some legal advice on the matter to know our rights. Now I know.

 

[quincy]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I definitely know that's a legal issue on their end but that doesn't concern me. If she's trolling the pages for that, and I know she's looking around for whatever she can get, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried using stuff as blackmail. But, blackmail is kind of petty and hard to bring into court.

I would avoid using the word "blackmail" to describe the wife's acts.

It would probably be a good idea for you to step away from any legal matters the wife now has to deal with due to her husband's death. I am sure there are healthier ways for you to grieve the loss of your brother.

 

[Silverplum]

From someone who just lost a brother and a confidant, snarkiness isn't very much appreciated. I'm dealing with enough off the internet.

You're just looking for a fight everywhere you go, aren'tcha?