Expert: Dan Pepper - 6/28/2009

Question
Without my knowledge or permission my husband hacked into my email and changed my email password and the security question. I also have a picture and poem which is copyrighted and saved on the hard drive,  he denied me access to it by not only changing my password, security question but by taking out the harddrive and saving the contents of the C: drive to a flash drive to give to his friends to go through all the information in the computer. My daughter and granddaughter also used the computer and now all their private information is compromised and being scrutinized by my husbands nephew who is a computer expert . Is there anything I can do about the violation of privacy for me, my daughter and grand daughter. I would also like to know what I can do to regain access to my copyrighted poem and picture.

Sincerely,
Dawn Lee


Answer
Whether your rights of privacy have been violated is a question of state law, and depends upon what expectation of privacy you had in your computer.  For example, if you had given your husband your password, your expectation would be low.

Regarding your poem and picture, did you obtain a copyright registration from the U.S. Copyright Office?  If so, you may be entitled to statutory damages and attorneys' fees, however it would involve bringing a lawsuit against your husband - not something you may be able to willing to do easily.