What are the crimes that can be committed by WhatsApp?
Social networks and mobile communication systems in their immense variety have practically taken control of the interrelation between people.
Hence, it is not uncommon to see couples that are formed through a contact that starts on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp.
But, just as they initiate beautiful or memorable relationships for people, there are also unpleasant situations, offenses to the integrity of a person, coercion and other types of crimes that, being clearly defined in the law, are also crimes when carried out through of this mobile chat system.
Does not this represent a violation of privacy?
Not really. At least in the case in which a victim reports an unpleasant situation by another person's action through WhatsApp, it is not.
In the case of fathers or mothers who take the devices of their youngest children and find pictures / nudes of old people sent to them or someone trying to blackmail them, justice usually maintains above the care of the parents and the fact that the boys be minor, in addition to analyzing the level of the crime that is committed, so the offender always has the loss.
Crimes that are committed through WhatsApp
Insult:
It is important to understand that intentionally affecting the image of a person committing injury is always a crime, that is why it exists as such. In WhatsApp there is what is known as "states", it is something similar to the walls of Facebook, where the person places a state and all their contacts can see it when accessing their wall, in the case of WhatsApp it is enough to press the name or number of the person and their status is automatically accessed.
It is there, in the WhatsApp states where the crime of injury is regularly committed.
Indirect - Injuries
Perhaps assuming logically the legal lack in question, many people often launch hints for WhatsApp. So, someone who considers that a lawyer has cheated him, may place: "Never trust a lawyer, I just cheated one."
That's not a crime (although it's not smart to think like that either). another case will be if you put the name of the lawyer or the law firm that assisted you and assure that you have been cheated.
that's what happened to a doctor in Valencia, Spain, when a court ordered him to repair the honor of his colleague and ex-member by placing a comment in his state asking everyone not to trust the doctor in question, placing the name in that state .
Is a WhatsApp status not something between two people?
Not so, unlike a conversation or chat, a state of WhatsApp does not have a single recipient, but is placed so that everyone who accesses by pressing on the number of the person, read its content, not just contacts, any I put the number from WhatsApp will be able to see the content.
It is a message in a certain public, relatively massive way, which is why it is considered a crime to do what is mentioned above.
Threats and blackmail
It is not always considered a threat or blackmail that places a person in their state if it is not clearly directed (with mention) to another. In the first place, it is taken into account that the victim can block that person with what they would no longer see their state, therefore, if the message is not personal it can not be considered a threat.
On the contrary, if the state mentions something like "María López de Castilla, I will poison you" the victim can accuse the crime, especially if he has evidence of some kind of problem with the person recently.
Coercion:
The existence of coercion is considered in a very broad scope. From personal messages, where he applies blackmail also in cases in which he sends a photograph to some ex-partner where both or this person is naked and threatens to show it if he does not pay any amount of money or return to maintain a romantic relationship.
Coercion is also considered if a person places in his state intimate images with his ex-partner in a group, exposing him publicly to take revenge or to coerce a new couple that may be in the group.
Breach of sentence:
In separations or problems of couple with intervention of courts and that culminate with order of withdrawal and even without this order, the victim can sue if he considers that the WhatsApp states that his partner places are directed to him / her, according to the case and the background a court can make a decision and consider that there is a breach of sentence for it.
Injuries:
In a common way there are more and more cases of insults through WhatsApp states, unfortunately the case of men who place offensive comments against their ex-partner and even with those who have children in common is recurrent.
Psychological injuries
In extreme cases, it may be the case that a person is accused by more than the reparation of the honor stained or a restraining order. It happened in Granada, where a judge sentenced a woman who harassed her ex-girlfriend for two years.
Both maintained a relationship while they worked together. When separated by changing jobs, the victim decided to end everything. At the beginning, the stalker seemed to accept it and asked to maintain the friendship between the two, but as soon as it seemed that everything was fine, as friends, she began to insinuate herself and when she was rejected there were horrible offenses against the victim.
They were weeks of insults and threats to reveal intimate details of their relationship. Over the months he returned to seek "save friendship" to relapse again and again. In some days, the level of harassment exceeded 100 messages in WhatsApp.
Such was the fear of the victim to know the character of his ex and by the actions of harassment, that even changing the number ended with a picture of anxiety, he left the job and even with suicidal thoughts, which merited the intervention of professionals for an appropriate treatment.
23,000 euros fine and restraining order / contact by all means for two years was the decision of the court.
