Stolen e-mail evidence?

You may be writing the verdict in your next lawsuit

Kim Philby, the notorious British spy who betrayed his country to the Russians, defined espionage as the collection of "secret information ... by illegal means."
This handy definition would apply to espionage in cyberspace as well. Everyone knows that the Internet isn't very private. The police routinely access Facebook accounts, as do the tabloids.

Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. hedge-fund operators were indicted on the basis of e-mail evidence they thought was private. White House appointees were embarrassed by Facebook posts. Lawyers in civil cases have made a cottage industry out of demanding and producing electronically stored information or "e-discovery," which would include a dragnet exploration before trial of all e-mails in an adversary's files.

E-mails, as well as other forms of digital evidence, routinely turn up in court cases, and frequently trials turn on their significance.

All sorts of spying goes on in cyberspace: spying by the government, industrial espionage, spying for commercial advantage and spying by people we know.

Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have all been accused of creating user profiles that catalog browsing histories, Web preferences and personal information. The government has been accused of Internet spying. So have private investigators retained by business competitors bent on industrial espionage.

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Source: washingtontimes.com
By: James D. Zirin