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http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-spouse-email-snooping-story,0,7625541.story

Checking your spouse's email could it land you in jail? Well, a Detroit man could be the first to find out. The Michigan man has been charged with felony computer misuse. Prosecutors say he hacked into his wife's email to find correspondence to back his adultery suspicions. Now legal experts locally in Dallas are watching this case, because they say if he's tried and convicted it could change the game for couples everywhere.

The Pearl Cup coffee shop on Henderson Avenue is often packed with people on laptops, checking email. And quite possibly some could be checking their spouse's email too.

"I've actually had my ex-husband do exactly that," said Dallas Resident Premjeet Kahur.

Kahur says, for her, a spousal email snoop crosses a big line.

" Permission. Can I look into your email? Okay or no. And if it's a no and you're still going through it, then you're asking for trouble," said Kahur.

But Dallas attorney, Gary Ashmore, says reasonable expectations of privacy may diminish when you get married. In fact, he advises clients in divorce or custody cases to check emails and cell phones, if you've already got the password.

"You have automatically given them permission to access that account any time they want whether or not you have knowledge of it," said Attorney Gary Ashmore.

Ashmore says the Michigan case could dramatically change domestic relation law, if the Detroit man is convicted for violating a criminal statute.

"I don't believe that's the intent of of these statutes and these laws to criminally prosecute a husband and wife from reading each other's emails," said Attorney Gary Ashmore.

Other emails users we spoke to say the find the case shocking.

"That seems completely insane to me. It would never occur to me that you could face criminal charges for that. I wouldn't think that you could face criminal charges for even reading a stranger's email," said Dallas Resident Eileen Hutchinson.

" Husband or wife, I thought when you get married you become one and so that's kind of confusing," said Dallas Resident Louie Corwin.

But Premjeet Kahur says she agrees with criminal charges, because her situation became scary. "It was fearful. That was the only privacy I had," she said.

That's why she's now very firm about where her email stands in her relationships. "I'm very careful about my passwords and also making it very clear don't even get on my email. Don't even do it," said Kahur.

Ashmore says in his opinion, if you were given the password, it's simply not hacking. The Michigan man's trial is set for Feb 7.

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