Urich’s Leaked Correspondence: What Are the Consequences of Receiving and Distributing Messages?

What Happened

Personal correspondence belonging to Yonatan Urich, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared online. His representatives announced that they intend to pursue the prosecution both of whoever accessed the WhatsApp account and of anyone who publishes or forwards the messages. The source does not report that a lawsuit has been filed or that a decision directly concerning this leak has been issued.

Access to the Account and Criminal Liability

Unauthorized access to another person’s WhatsApp account and extracting information from it may constitute an offense under Section 4 of the Computers Law, punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. If the intrusion was carried out to commit another offense, particularly to violate privacy, the possible sentence may reach five years. However, a dispute may arise over whether the access was unlawful: according to a report in the newspaper Haaretz, Urich’s tool was publicly accessible on GitHub.

Forwarding and Civil Claims

Section 2(5) of the Protection of Privacy Law defines as a privacy violation the copying or use, without permission, of the contents of a letter or other writing not intended for publication, provided that it has no historical value and 15 years have not yet elapsed since it was written. Accordingly, a civil claim may be possible not only against the person who obtained the information, but also against someone who copied, used or distributed private correspondence without permission. The court may award, without proof of damage, basic compensation of up to 50,000 shekels, and if intent to cause harm is proven—up to 100,000 shekels; taking indexation into account, the publication cited sums of approximately 73,000 and 146,000 shekels, respectively.

When Distribution May Be Protected

Under Section 18 of the Protection of Privacy Law, a defendant may rely on good faith, a legal, moral, social or professional duty to publish, or a public interest justifying the publication; however, the published information cannot be false. The specific content of the messages, their connection to Urich’s public activity, the context of the publication and the benefit to the public are significant. These defenses concern the publication of information, but they do not justify unlawful access to a device or account.

Not Every Forwarding Becomes a Criminal Offense

The intentional copying, use or distribution of private correspondence obtained unlawfully may result in criminal liability under the Protection of Privacy Law. If the violation was not intentional, it does not in itself constitute a criminal offense under this law, although civil liability may still be possible. The article expressed the assessment that the prosecution is unlikely to prosecute the publication of isolated messages in the same manner as it would prosecute the person who obtained the information directly from the account, but the source does not cite a final decision by the authorities.

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