In our age of technological advancement, it is not that difficult to engage in electronic eavesdropping. However, if you are involved in a divorce, you could face criminal penalties for doing so, and you will be able to use any of the information that you obtain in court.
New York Penal Law §250.05 provides that a spouse is guilty of eavesdropping, a class E felony, when he or she unlawfully “engages in wiretapping, mechanical overhearing of a conversation or intercepting or accessing of an electronic communication”. A party who records a spouse’s electronic communications through the use of keystroke software, automatic session logs, and copying of sent or received emails may be guilty of eavesdropping. A spouse who possesses eavesdropping technology or equipment designed to wiretap or mechanically overhear a conversation may be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
Civil Practice Law and Rules §4506(1) provides that any communication obtained through the use of illegal eavesdropping cannot be used as evidence in any trial, hearing or proceeding before any court, except in a civil or criminal hearing against the person alleged to have eavesdropped.
