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 not be able to use the information that you obtained doing so 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”.
If you record your spouse’s electronic communications through the use of keystroke software, automatic session logs, or the copying of sent or received emails, your may be charged with eavesdropping.
If you simply possess eavesdropping technology or equipment which is designed to wiretap or mechanically overhear a conversation, you may be charged with a class A misdemeanor.
New York 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.
