Email Privacy Risks During Relationship Breakdown and Beyond

When "Lucy" and "Ricky" exchanged wedding vows, they said nothing about email privacy. During their marriage, Lucy found it easy to guess Ricky's email password. After all, she was his wife and knew how his mind works. One day Lucy began to suspect that Ricky was being unfaithful to her, and reading his email confirmed her suspicion. She never told him that she was intercepting his email, and he never suspected that's how she discovered his infidelity. Even after their divorce, she still keeps tabs on him by reading his email: he still doesn't know.

When personal relationships go bad, a boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse or other significant other may access their partner's email for a variety of reasons: curiosity, suspicion, evidence-gathering, and revenge are just a few. The person doing the accessing is in an ideal position to either know the email password outright