The privacy of personal correspondence, telephone conversations, and messages is a fundamental human right strictly protected by the Constitution of Georgia and criminal legislation. Violation of correspondence privacy involves illegally obtaining, reading, intercepting, or recording another person's private letter, email, short text message (SMS/Chat), or other types of communication. With the development of digital technologies, this crime has become increasingly relevant as personal information is often stored on vulnerable electronic devices and servers. The law prohibits any action aimed at accessing the content of a person's communication without their permission or a court order. This applies to individuals (e.g., a jealous spouse or a curious acquaintance) as well as employers and organizations that illegally monitor employees.
What Does Correspondence Privacy Defense Cover?
Legal services in this category serve both victims whose rights have been violated and defendants accused of illegal surveillance or reading correspondence. The service includes:
- Criminal Defense: Protecting the accused's interests during investigation and trial stages, assessing the legality of evidence, and developing a defense strategy.
- Evidence Collection: Providing legal assistance to the victim to prove the fact of illegal intrusion into correspondence (e.g., analysis of IP addresses, logs, and digital footprints).
- Corporate Consultation: Developing internal policies for companies to ensure that employee monitoring (e.g., corporate email) is conducted within legal limits without violating privacy.
- Digital Forensics: Collaborating with IT specialists to determine if unauthorized access actually occurred and what volume of information was obtained.
- Damage Compensation: Filing civil claims for moral damage compensation if the disclosure of private correspondence caused reputational or psychological harm.
Common Situations and Scenarios
Violations of correspondence privacy often occur in domestic settings or employment relationships. Common examples include:
- Family Conflicts: A spouse or partner secretly installs a listening app on the other party's phone or accesses social media messages by illegally obtaining a password.
- Employer Monitoring: Company management reads an employee's private emails or listens to personal calls made on an office phone without prior warning.
- Social Media Hacking: Logging into a person's Facebook or Instagram account and reading, copying, or distributing private messages (DMs).
- Illegal Recording: Secretly recording a conversation between two people by a third party using special technical means.