The Hindu : National : No to parental snooping

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 11, 2004

National

National

No to parental snooping

SEATTLE, DEC. 10. The Supreme Court here has ruled that a mother violated Washington's privacy law by eavesdropping on her daughter's phone conversation. Privacy advocates hailed Thursday's ruling, but the mother was unrepentant. "It's ridiculous! Kids have more rights than parents these days," said the mom, Carmen Dixon, 47. "My daughter was out of control, and that was the only way I could get information and keep track of her. I did it all the time."

The court ruled that Ms. Dixon's testimony against a friend of her daughter should not have been admitted in court because it was based on the intercepted conversation. The justices unanimously ordered a new trial for Oliver Christensen, who had been convicted partly owing to the mother's testimony.

The case started with a purse-snatching incident four years ago that shocked the island town of Friday Harbour Two young men knocked down an elderly woman and stole her purse. Christensen, then 17, was a suspect.

Sheriff Bill Cumming asked Ms. Dixon, whose daughter was Christensen's friend, to be alert for any possible evidence. When Christensen called the Dixon house later, Lacey Dixon, then 14, took the cordless phone into her bedroom and shut the door. The mother hit the "speakerphone" button and took notes on the conversation — in which Christensen said he knew where the purloined purse was. — AP

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