Is it illegal to show people someone's private messages on Facebook?

[Joseph]

If so, can you give me an Act or something, I want to get this person good. I will not prosecute them but I want to warn them.

[JellyBean]

It's not illegal but you could be opening a bag of worms.

[hugebucket469]

It's probably not illegal, but it would sure not be a nice thing to do. I would never do that. I have respect for a persons privacy.

[Jack]

Joseph
It not illegal. But let it go. Its not worth the problems you could be getting into. I would suggest that you just eliminate this person from your list of friends and move on. But thats up to you. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Jack

[george]

Joseph -

There is nothing illegal about this. You were having a conversation with someone and that conversation is as much his property as it is yours.

Here's what you can do to protect yourself:

You know this person shares private conversations that you have over Facebook, so stop having private conversations with him. If he wants to have a conversation with you, it can be done in person. If that's impossible, then tell him you will not be having these conversations any longer because you cannot trust him to keep these conversations private.

This also applies to texting.

I would just like to know why you are keeping untrustworthy people in your circle of friends.

[Fatima]

It's not illegal but it is really a bad thing to do, make sure that person don't know how to hack a facebook account 'coz it maybe hack yours if you open it without a permission. hope this works

[Dont you]

In America if the person who showed private messages is in California then it's illegal because the upper superior court said so. However that's only valid on four states. The American Supreme Court has consistently refused to rule on whether or not it's legal on the grounds it could impair national defense if the Echelon network suddenly wasn't allowed to review an email once it had been opened.

In the U.K. I honestly don't know. In many ways your laws are similar to ours but the U.K. helped develop the network that monitors internet messages and your government has always been very slow to give up power. Typically what the law says is that as long as a message has not been opened it's the property of the person sending the message. However once it's been opened then the person who received can do what they want with it.

However there may be an option. In America if there is a message at the bottom of the email that says something like this: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.

That confidentiality clause would allow the person to read your email but not distribute it to other people.