The answer is yes. Opening someone else's mail can actually be considered illegal in Australia.
As outlined in section 477.1, it is an offence to cause any unauthorised access, modification or impairment of data held in a computer or electronic communication to or from a computer.
If you do not have express permission to access another person's web-based email account—such as those found on Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail —such activity could land you in hot water. Indeed, you risk not only civil liability but criminal liability too.
The maximum penalty for tampering with mail in Australia is five years' gaol. This can be reduced to two years' imprisonment if the prosecution cannot to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an accused tampered with the mail with dishonest intentions.
If you do accidentally open mail that doesn't belong to you, the best option is to re-seal the mail and write "return it to sender" and put it back in the mailbox. This is because it is illegal to obstruct mail from reaching its intended recipient.
Removing mail from someone else's mailbox may lead to a charge of mail tampering. Destroying, damaging, or interfering with the mail are also often considered mail tampering. For instance, removing mail from someone's mailbox or throwing mail away that is intended for another person may amount to a crime.
If the unauthorized access was willful or intentional, a successful plaintiff can recover punitive damages even if no actual losses were sustained. Attorneys' fees may also be awarded.
Depending on the circumstances of the offense, the nature of the charges in some jurisdictions and the intent of the prosecution, the unauthorized access of email accounts can be handled as a misdemeanor or a felony with additional civil liabilities. In other words, criminal penalties for email hacking can be severe.
In addition to this, under GDPR, sending personal data by email could be considered a data breach. So too could an email data leak, having personal information sent to the wrong email address, and this could have a number of unwanted consequences.
Can the police track an IP address from an email? Yes. They may have to get a couple of warrants to do so, and those could be international, so it might take a while. If the email was sent from an email application on the sender's computer, then the IP address is invariably in the header of the email.
Under federal law, electronic snooping may be considered computer fraud, computer and information theft, or cyberterrorism, violations of which could result in felony charges.
Yes, email addresses are personal data. According to data protection laws such as the GDPR and CCPA, email addresses are personally identifiable information (PII). PII is any information that can be used by itself or with other data to identify a physical person.
Personal email addresses (including all student and alumni email addresses) are considered to be personal information and are therefore confidential. Personal email addresses must not be shared with others without the owner's written consent.
Steal your identity
In many cases, scammers can use your email address to find enough information about you to steal your identity. Here's how the scam works: Thieves collect your personal information through a combination of data breaches, hacking, fraud, physical theft, or phishing scams.
For such an offence to be committed, a message must be sent to another person (or sent via a public communications network) that is indecent, grossly offensive, obscene or threatening/menacing.
Harassment. Sending threatening, unsolicited, obnoxious, or sexually explicit messages to others by email is a form of harassment, as is continuing to mail someone who has asked you to stop. You should never send anyone an email message containing things you wouldn't say in person.
Under California law, it is illegal to make contact with another person with the intention to threaten them. This means that one email containing threatening language may qualify as electronic harassment.
The law stipulates that certain criteria must be met in order to be considered mail theft. Mail theft occurs when an individual: Removes mail (defined as a letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail) from a mailbox, mail carrier, post office or other mail receptacle.
To find out when an email you sent was opened, you can request a read receipt. A read receipt is sent to you as an email with the time and date of when your message was opened. Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school?
Mailboxes are protected by federal law, and crimes against them and the mail they contain are considered a federal offense. Violators can be fined up to $250,000 or imprisoned for up to three years for each act of vandalism. Damaged mailboxes have to be replaced, costing the owner time, money and inconvenience.
Federal statutes
Once the email is stored on a computer (email server/user computer), it is protected from unauthorized access under the Stored Communications Act (Title II of Electronic Communications Privacy Act).
Most people put all their eggs in one basket. If hackers gain access to your email, they could have an open doorway to any number of other devices and accounts. They can use your email to reset other account passwords, gain access to credit information, or even delete accounts, such as social media profiles.
So, anyone who gained access to your email address would be able to tell a lot about the websites you use (including your financial accounts). It may give them information they need to steal money or uncover other personal information that can then be sold on the web.
Whether you have done it intentionally or unintentionally, it is an illegal act and there are issues of privacy and security breaches.