Hacker jailed for accessing colleague's personal emails

Spanish man forwarded co-worker's emails about his sex life to other people

Hacking carries heavy penalties in Spain

A Spanish hacker has been jailed for two years and fined €3,240 (£2,566) after he accessed a colleague's emails detailing his sex life and forwarded them on.

Those on the recipient list included the man's ex-wife, his girlfriend and the mayor of his local town. The man believed he had erased the emails.

The judge said Spanish law allowed the courts to pursue anyone who "gets access to information of a personal or family nature held on information systems or computers which are public or private".

It was the process of accessing the emails, rather than their content, which breached the victim's privacy, the judge added.