Should Pacemaker Evidence Be Used to Catch Cheaters?
I have written several times before about some of the more novel uses of the information that can be gleaned from social media, for example the use in Family Law of evidence taken from Facebook. Some of our previous posts include: Facebook as a Source of Evidence In Family Law: Part 1; Facebook as a Source of Evidence in Family Law: Part 2; and Facebook as a Source of Evidence in Family Law: Part 3.
The legal issue behind this kind of information-gathering, is whether collecting information in this manner is unduly intrusive into a person’s privacy.
A U.S. case reported by the American Bar Association that caught my attention recently takes the privacy question it even further: It involved the use of evidence taken from a man’s pacemaker, used to support a charge of criminal fraud and arson against him. It seems the data from his heartbeat-regulating device – which was collected from him by way of a search warrant – did not support his claim that his house had burned down. Evidently the man’s heart-rate on the night in question did not correspond with his description of events, including his scramble to collect his personal belongings and get out of the home. He was ultimately charged with arson and insurance fraud.
As the American Bar Association article pointed out, this Ohio decision is contentious because it can be seen as having “eroded” the privacy rights that an individual has in his or her health information. In Canada, the government’s ability to collect and use private information is strictly governed by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and this includes the right and duties in relation to collecting information for the prosecution of crime.
Although the U.S. decision has no sway in Canada, it occurred to me that if it did, the information from personal health devices like a pacemaker might eventually be exploited in Family Law cases as well. I started to think about the limits of this kind of information, and how it might apply to divorce cases.
For example, it could be called up in support of the adultery-based grounds for divorce under the federal Divorce Act, by bolstering other evidence that a spouse who claimed to have been “working late” on a given evening was – judging by an unusually elevated heartbeat – actually engaged in an extra-marital affair. (Although I guess it might depend on how truly exciting the person’s work is!)
For now, this is the stuff of science fiction; it’s probably a long way off, before these kinds of biometrics are used as evidence in litigation generally, much less in Family Law cases. And they give rise to many privacy concerns that are assiduously safeguarded by Canadian public policy in the form of legislation.
What are your thoughts on whether evidence of this nature should be used?