Snooping Google Engineer Could Face Jail Time

A Google engineer who abused his access to data to snoop on teenagers' chat logs and harass them could face up to 5 years in jail if government officials decide to prosecute him. David Barksdale's spying on Google Voice and Google Talk accounts definitely wasn't "in the normal course of business," so he is in breach of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, TechEye notes.

First-time violators of the ECPA tend to receive a fine instead of jail time, although Barksdale, who Google fired after receiving complaints from parents, may also have run afoul of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. "We’ve seen cases like this before, where someone got access to someone’s email box and the government prosecuted them under both statutes, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation tells Forbes. For other stories on online privacy issues, click here.
(More David Barksdale stories.)