Yes, being sentenced to prison is a real possibility in these cases. And not only for spying on your partner’s mobile phone, tablet, email, personal computer or any device , but also that of an employee, a friend, a relative and even, except in certain and exceptional cases. circumstances, that of your minor child . It is a criminal act for our legal system. The Spanish Penal Code punishes the discovery and disclosure of secrets as a crime against privacy , based on the constitutional right to the inviolability of communications and to preserve personal privacy. The penalty imposed as a result of this conduct can range from one to four years in prison . And the thing does not stop there. By spying on someone else’s mobile phone, other crimes can also be committed simultaneously; for example, against integrity . Title VII, Book II of the Penal Code (Articles 173 to 177) describes a series of crimes that are characterized by protecting human dignity, understood as the right of every person not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, in accordance with the provisions of provided for in article 15 of the Spanish Constitution, which guarantees everyone’s right to physical and moral integrity and personal freedom. Not even an alleged purpose of providing certain evidence to a judicial process protects this conduct of spying on privacy, since fundamental rights can only be restricted by a judge in the exercise of his functions, within the framework of an investigation and with due guarantees. .
On the other hand, the evidence obtained illegally cannot be provided in a process, so that, in addition to constituting a possible crime, it will not be admitted or evaluated by the judge in charge of the case. Recently the courts have accepted that parental authority – the so-called parental authority – protects parents to review the communications of their minor child if that behavior is clearly intended to protect them or to prevent behaviors that may cause harm . However, among the members of the couple, we must pay attention to the circumstances of the case, as it will not be the same to access the other’s email after installing a spyware program than to see a message or a conversation casually on the screen that has been left unprotected. so that it is within easy reach of anyone. In any case, watch out for the phone number of your relatives. Apart from being ethically reprehensible conduct, you already know that you can be charged as responsible for a criminal offense against privacy.
