Q: Is it illegal for someone to read your private text messages by snooping on your phone?
My sis and I are in our 30s and do not live at home. My mom offered to take my sister's phone in for an exchange. When the software was uploaded on the new phone, old text messages (which had previously been deleted) showed up, revealing a conversation that my sister and I had. We were discussing our frustrations about our mom. Now, our mom uses this information to jab us on a daily basis, months later. She refuses to admit what she did - which was snooping through my sister's phone. She has made it abundantly clear exactly what she has read, so there is no question that this happened but again, she refuses to admit it. Did our mom break the law? We live in Arizona.
A: No, it's not illegal unless the mother hacked into the phone or used software to disable encyption.
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