A woman accused of secretly entering the password of her boyfriend’s smartphone and viewing content was found not guilty in the second trial.
According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Appeals Division 5-2 recently overturned the first trial’s ruling to suspend a fine and acquitted the woman in the appeals trial for charges of content detection of electronic records. The court explained, “Considering the circumstances of how the defendant accessed the victim’s mobile phone and their relationship, it can be seen as a legitimate and socially acceptable action.” Although she viewed the content without the victim’s consent, it can be seen as a legitimate act considering the background context, negating the illegality.
The court took into account that the woman found out that her ex-boyfriend was using a dating app while accessing his phone after she entered the password, leading her ex-boyfriend to apologize without any objections. The fact that her ex-boyfriend seemed to have told the woman the password of his phone at the time, and circumstances that made the woman believe that her ex-boyfriend was lying as there were issues regarding other women, also influenced the verdict. In addition, the need to verify the facts related to the ex-boyfriend’s suspected illegal activities also served as the basis for the acquittal.
The woman was prosecuted on suspicion of secretly entering the password on her ex-boyfriend’s phone in December 2020 and viewing the contact information and videos of his ex-girlfriend. In the first trial, the woman was found guilty but she was given a suspended sentence and a 300,000 won ($220) fine considering it was her first offense. A suspended sentence is a verdict that postpones the sentence for a certain period for minor offenses and considers it to have been acquitted once the period ends.