Walker suspected his wife of cheating, so he flipped through the book of passwords she conveniently kept next to the family's shared laptop, logged into her Gmail account and confirmed his suspicions. Now Oakland County prosecutors are -- a charge usually reserved for identity thieves, hackers and trade secret embezzlers. He faces five years in prison.

Prosecutor Jessica Cooper Walker's credentials as a trained computer technician make him a threat. "The guy is a hacker. [The computer] was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way," Cooper told the Detroit Free Press.

Walker is being charged with Michigan statute 752.795, which reads, in part: "A person shall not intentionally and without authorization or by exceeding valid authorization do any of the following: Access or cause access to be made to a computer program, computer, computer system or computer network to acquire, alter, damage delete or destroy property or otherwise use the service of a computer program, computer, computer system or computer network."

Though most would agree that reading someone else's e-mail -- whether in a relationship or on a shared computer or not -- is a big no-no, the charges themselves will be difficult to prove, especially since the statute is aimed toward hackers, not Gmail Peeping Toms.

"The word 'e-mail' does not appear in this statute. This is an anti-hacking statute. It does not, in any way, shape or form, encompass reading somebody's e-mail," defense attorney Leon Weiss told .