If you are French, and you like your infidelity 140 characters at a time, then you might be in for a bit of trouble.
France’s Supreme Court has is now allowing incriminating text messages to be admitted as evidence in divorce court. As a result, proceedings will go much faster than they would if the plaintiff were to rely on a private investigator to dig up juicy evidence.
The appeal of cheating-by-texting is obvious. It’s easy, discreet, and depending how soul-less you actually are – guilt free. The illusion of miles of technological barriers existing between you and your not-as-significant other makes it all the more tempting to make brazen requests and plan for infidelities. Even the most saintly of companions would find it hard to resist!
While text messages have been legitimate evidence in drug and murder trials for several years, this is the first instance of them being used in civil cases. As our web life evolves and more people get around to posting their own content through blogs and twitter posts, legal boundaries are being redrawn every day against small, seemingly innocuous tweets, updates and texts.
In our modern age, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to define what is and isn’t cheating. While some justify technological infidelities as a man-to-machine interaction (which isn’t illegal or even immoral. . . yet), others feel that even entertaining the idea of cheating is cheating in itself.
Regardless of what is right or wrong, those who choose to participate in digital promiscuity should know that their actions are more permanent than one would think. Even though the button says “delete”, no information is ever truly expunged. While it no longer exists on your handheld device, doesn’t mean it was removed from your service provider’s servers. With court orders becoming even more creative and progressive, pretty soon even that information could become public record.
For now, be wary of what you keep in your inbox. Those dirty thoughts and T9 misspellings could very well be a judge’s next source of entertainment.
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