Article 197 of the Penal Code

  Penal Code

1. Anyone who, to discover the secrets or violate the privacy of another, without their consent, seizes their papers, letters, email messages or any other documents or personal effects, intercepts their telecommunications or uses technical listening devices, transmission, recording or reproduction of sound or image, or any other communication signal, will be punished with prison sentences of one to four years and a fine of twelve to twenty-four months.

2. The same penalties will be imposed on anyone who, without being authorized, seizes, uses or modifies, in damage third party, reserved personal or family data of another that is recorded in computer, electronic or telematic files or media, or in any other type of public or private file or record. The same penalties will be imposed on anyone who, without being authorized, accesses them by any means and on anyone who alters or uses them to the detriment of the owner of the data or a third party.

3. A prison sentence of two to five years will be imposed if the data or facts discovered or the captured images referred to in the previous numbers are disseminated, revealed or transferred to third parties.

Anyone who, with knowledge of its illicit origin and without having taken part in its discovery, carries out the conduct described in the previous paragraph, will be punished with prison sentences of one to three years and a fine of twelve to twenty-four months.

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4. The acts described in sections 1 and 2 of this article will be punished with a prison sentence of three to five years when:

a) Are committed by the persons in charge or responsible for the files, computer, electronic or telematic media, archives or records; either

b) are carried out through the unauthorized use of the victim's personal data.

If the reserved data has been disseminated, transferred or revealed to third parties, the penalties will be imposed in the upper half.

5. Likewise, when the facts described in the previous sections affect personal data that reveal ideology, religion, beliefs, health, racial origin or sexual life, or the victim is a minor or a person with a disability in need of special protection, the penalties provided for in its upper half will be imposed.

6. If the acts are carried out for profit, the penalties respectively provided for in sections 1 to 4 of this article in its upper half will be imposed. If they also affect data mentioned in the previous section, the penalty to be imposed will be imprisonment of four to seven years.

7. Anyone who, without the authorization of the affected person, disseminates, reveals or transfers to third parties images or audiovisual recordings of the person that he or she has obtained with his or her authorization will be punished with a prison sentence of three months to one year or a fine of six to twelve months consent in a home or in any other place out of the reach of third parties, when the disclosure seriously undermines the personal privacy of that person.

The penalty will be imposed in its upper half when the acts have been committed by the spouse or by a person who is or has been linked to him by a similar emotional relationship, even without cohabitation, the victim is a minor or a person with a needy disability. of special protection, or the acts had been committed with a lucrative purpose.

art 197 cp

Article 197 of Penal Code Spanish establishes the penalties for crime of Discovery and disclosure of secrets as a violation of another person's privacy without their consent.

Article 197 of the Penal Code is part of the title dedicated to crimes against privacy, the right to one's own image and the inviolability of the home: