Criminal liability of the employer for intruding into his employee’s emails.

Abstract

The paper examines the protection granted by Chilean criminal law to the employee’s emails, with special reference to those sent or received through email accounts provided by the employer for official use by the employee. Starting from the fact that Chilean Constitutional Court in has extended the inviolability of communications to emails and electronic documents, the paper further examines if the employer’s intrusion is punishable under criminal law, having in mind the variety of crimes that prima facie seem applicable. Besides, attention is given to comparative law from Germany and other legal systems akin to it, in order to shed light upon interpretive issues. Furthermore, it is examined if the employer’s intention to protect the company’s interests could justify the conduct under the criminal law.