Legal Question in Technology Law in Illinois

Re: Email Snooping

What you did is a crime; so don't do it any more and hope you don't get prosecuted...which isn't likely anyway.

Re: Email Snooping

If you didn't have your ex's permission then snooping into her email violated Penal Code section 502. That section defines several crimes related to unauthorized access to computer systems and/or data. Some of these crimes are misdemeanors, but others are felonies. Which crime(s) you may have committed and what consequences you might face will depend upon additional facts.

Correction Re: Email Snooping

I need to retract my prior response. I mistakenly believed you were asking about California law, but after I posted the answer I saw that you were actually asking about the law of Illinois.

You should note, though, that you may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction where gmail's servers are located as well as those of the state where you were at the time. Gmail is a service of Google and Google is located in California. I believe its servers are here, too. You could theoretically be prosecuted in this state. That doesn't seem particularly likely, especially if Illinois has similar laws (which it probably does).

I apologize for any confusion my first response may have caused.