The article went on to explain that after Leon Walker, 33, of Michigan, discovered this adultery, his wife Clara Walker filed for a divorce, which was granted in December. In the Australian context and most Western countries there is 'no fault' divorce, so you do not even have to prove adultery or any other transgression to obtain a divorce.
Mr Walker was obviously peeved, as he told The Oakland Press of Pontiac that he was trying to protect the couple's children from neglect and called the case a "miscarriage of justice." He somehow wanted her to stay with him and their children when clearly she was finished with the marriage.
The twist on this story, is that he now faces trial on felony computer misuse charge, as Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sydney Turner says, the charge is justified and the case will go ahead on February 7.
Privacy law writer Frederick Lane told the Detroit Free Press the law typically is used to prosecute identity theft and stealing trade secrets. He says he questions if a wife can expect privacy on a computer she shares with her husband.
www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/husband-charged-after-discovering-wifes-affair-by-reading-her-emails-on-shared-computer-20101228-198qu.html
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson, a retired Baptist minister says that although this issue will be determined by the court, it raises some interesting questions.
Why would a husband and wife, shared a computer, with such intimate correspondences was stored. A small hand bag computer can be purchased today even in Australia for under $400 and on ebay even cheaper.
Why would a husband and wife even want their partner's private password. Mark Tronson says that in his experience, husbands and wives have very different interests and correspond with their own respective friends and acquaintances. If there is something of interest, that news is passed on verbally.
Moreover many women talk to their friends on many intimate subjects that most men consider to be idle nonsense and would run a mile rather than get involved.
There is a sense in which one's sanity might be put into question whereby a wife would correspond with a lover on a shared computer and he for admitting that he illegally used her password without her consent. They both had other available alternatives.
Mark Tronson says it reminds him of the Australian pair dobbed Dumb and Dumber who tried to rob a bank in the US, a year or so ago. But it proves the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction. There is something to say about the tried and true message in the 'old book' of the fun and joy of trusted fidelity in the marriage bed.