Section 142 of the Penal Code

Quick question. Are admins actually required to call the cops if they see someone publicly confessing to breaking the law—basically admitting to a crime online?

Take the "Relationship Advice" subforums up there, for example. We constantly see threads where women openly admit to snooping through their husband's phone and finding texts he sent to some mistress.

Under U.S. criminal law, that’s an actual offense. So, my question is: why doesn't anyone ever take action? Why isn't anyone reporting this stuff?

Check out Section 142.

(1) Anyone who unauthorizedly opens someone else's mail, telegram, email, or any other form of correspondence, or otherwise violates their privacy, or illegally retains, hides, destroys, or hands over someone else's sealed mail, telegram, email, or any other means of communication...

...shall be punished by up to one year in prison.

Here's a link so you know I didn't just pull this statute out of thin air.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/

What’s the point of even calling the police?😕

Brian Edwards6 said:Why even bother calling the cops?😕

It’s because they straight up broke the law—like, a literal crime was committed. And now, they went and posted a public confession right here on Reddit. Case closed.

So, if a wife admits she went snooping through her husband's phone and found texts from his mistress, she basically just confessed to committing a crime under the penal code.

And why wouldn't you just call the cops? What's so weird about that?

That's basically like someone bragging on Reddit about boosting a pack of Marlboro Reds and some adult magazines from a 7-Eleven—or just straight-up admitting they swiped someone's wallet on the subway.

I’d report that immediately—nothing weird about it here, it's obvious to everyone that we're talking about actual felonies.

And honestly—digging through someone else’s phone is literally a crime. But apparently, that’s just lost on everyone—or at least this tiny group of people.

I dropped the link to the penal code above and just copy-pasted the specific statute—it's all right there in plain English.

ruggedhawk20 said:it's because they broke the law—straight up committed a crime. Basically, by posting this on a forum, they just made a public confession to a criminal offense.

So, if a wife admits she went through her husband's phone and found texts from his mistress, she’s basically publicly confessing to breaking federal privacy laws.

Why wouldn't you report that to the cops? What's so weird about that?

It’s exactly the same as someone bragging on a forum that they robbed a 7-Eleven and swiped a pack of Marlboros and some adult magazines. Or saying they snatched someone's wallet on the subway and admitting it right here.

That would be reported instantly—nothing weird there, everyone knows those are crimes.

But snooping through someone else's phone is also a crime. Clearly, nobody gets that. Or maybe just a tiny handful of people do.

I put the link to the penal code above and copy-pasted the specific statute. It's all right there in black and white.

And how do you even know it was actually a woman writing that? Who's really behind that username?

Why do you even care if a woman's digging through a phone?

Larry Walker24 said:how do you even know it was actually a woman writing that—or who's really behind the account?

why do you even care if a wife is snooping through her husband's phone?

okay, let’s flip the script. let’s say some user pops up on Reddit and openly admits they just robbed a 7-Eleven. would we be worried then?

because both of those things are felonies

it’s wild that nobody here seems to get that. can you people even read? does anyone here actually understand what a criminal offense is or how the penal code works?

we have a situation where a woman basically confessed to a crime and everyone's just sitting there doing nothing.

look, if someone wrote it just to troll—well, they'll have to explain that during a police interrogation. but in my book, the site mods can't just ignore a public confession to a crime. they can't.

and the only reason they aren't acting is because it hasn't clicked for anyone yet that snooping through a phone is a crime too.

So here we have a literal public confession of a crime

https://www.reddit.com/r/example

Basically, she’s admitting she was snooping through his texts while he was in the shower

And here is the actual federal statute that makes what she did a criminal offense.

Section 142.

(1) Anyone who intentionally intercepts or accesses private electronic communications, emails, or any other form of private correspondence without authorization—or otherwise violates their privacy by intercepting, concealing, or destroying such communications—

shall be punished by up to one year in prison.

Everything is right there.

If there are any admins here who can pull her IP address, someone should report this to the cops so they can take it from there.

I'm pretty sure it's an admin's job to report crimes to the police—unless I'm wrong.

Hey admins, just tell me how you'd handle this—or even something else, like shoplifting at a CVS or picking pockets—would you actually call it in?

If someone actually posted that they slept with a ten-year-old neighbor, you’d probably see some kind of reaction; people generally don't stay silent about things like that.
But the real question is always this: what if a user wanders onto Reddit and claims he borrowed his cousin's old VW Golf yesterday, polished it until it practically glowed silver, and then rolled up to his favorite local bar in total style, where a group of guys wearing gold chains around their necks cheered him on while he grabbed three fingerling sausages from a street vendor and ate them right there in the car? Would you believe him? And more importantly, if you can't trust a story like that, why on earth would you ever believe—or bother reacting to—anything else?

It’s not even just that they don't get that this is a straight-up felony—they're actually out here making fun of it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/example

seriously kriste. i bring up the criminal code and this is what I get

Dear ruggedhawk20,

You have received an infraction at Reddit.

Reason: Offtopic/spam
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This infraction is worth 10 point(s) and may result in restricted access until it expires. Serious infractions will never expire.

Original Post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/example

honestly, what is wrong with you people?

here comes another one

Hey ruggedhawk20,

You just caught a strike on Reddit.

Reason: Offtopic/spam
-------

-------

This hit you with 10 points—could lead to a temporary ban depending on how things go. Major violations stay on your record forever.

Original Post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/example

Alright, since the esteemed moderator who handed me these bans wants to go explain herself to the admins—how exactly was this off-topic or spam?

Some user was bragging about snooping through her husband's phone, so I just linked an article about how that's actually a crime under US law.

And now that's considered off-topic or spam?

Seriously, the mods on this site have absolutely no clue what they're doing!

🤣

This is going straight to the garbage pile. 😬

ruggedhawk20 said:Section 142.

... someone else's...

they'll face up to a year in prison.

There’s no such thing as "someone else's" when you're in a marriage; maybe try actually reading the American family law books for once.

Seriously, go read it.

ruggedhawk20 said:I honestly can't decide if an admin actually has a legal obligation to report crimes to the police, or if that's just a gray area.

Why don't you just step up and report this crime yourself? 😳

ruggedhawk20 said:I’d love to see the esteemed moderator—the very one who handed me these warnings—stand before the admins and actually explain how, exactly, my comment qualifies as off-topic or spam.

The user admitted to snooping through her husband's phone, so I simply pointed out the specific section of the penal code stating that such an act is a criminal offense.

And now that’s considered off-topic or spam?

It’s clear the moderators on this site haven't the slightest clue what they're doing!

Your posts have absolutely nothing to do with the threads you're commenting on; they offer zero value, which is why they were deleted and you were warned.

Sarah Morales90 said:Why don't you just do the right thing and report this atrocity yourself? 😳

I was actually going to ask the same thing. What's stopping someone from just printing this out, heading down to the local precinct, and filing a report? And while you're at it, let us know what the cops tell you. 😁

Christian Taylor3 said:🤣
There is no such thing as "separate property" within a marriage; you should probably look up the American family law statutes.

What if the phone actually belonged to someone else?

ruggedhawk20 said:In this situation, we’ve got a woman admitting to a criminal offense right here, and yet nobody is lifting a finger.

Look, if you feel strongly enough about it, you can always report it to the authorities. Just keep in mind that the site admins aren't actually obligated to step in and handle legal matters like that.

ruggedhawk20 said:The reason is quite simple: a criminal statute was violated. A crime was committed, and in this specific instance, the confession was made publicly right here on the forum...

I regret that I didn't manage to squeeze in one more question before my ban kicked in, but no—they aren't legally obligated to report that.👍

Nathan Kelly5 said:What if the phone actually belonged to someone else?

Irrelevant.👍

Christian Taylor3 said:There’s no such thing as "separate property" within a marriage—you really ought to go read up on Family Law.

Where exactly in Family Law does it address the privacy of someone's personal correspondence? 😕 A letter, a text, or whatever else is private because of the content itself, not just because of who owns the computer or the phone.

But, I suppose the real point is something else entirely: the legal obligation to report a crime typically only applies to serious felonies, and what we're looking at here isn't exactly a major felony. And that's basically it 🙂.