Keystroke Logger Faces Federal Wiretap Charges

securitas writes "In what prosecutors say is the first case of its kind, a former insurance claims manager was indicted on federal wiretapping charges for allegedly installing a keystroke logger on another employee's computer. The device was secretly installed 'on a PC used by a secretary to senior executives at Bristol West Insurance Group.' Reuters reports that the man, who had been fired, was gathering information for a class action lawsuit against his former employer. SecurityFocus interviews would-be keystroke logger user Larry Lee Ropp who reportedly installed the KEYKatcher device on the PC."

Comments

Just slightly OT

[The-Bus]

From http://www.keykatcher.com/testimonials/index.html

"I must thank you for this great invention. Early this year, I discovered my 14-year-old daughter was on the ICQ with a person with a name of "P****". I was shocked and did not know what to do. I then e-mailed the editor of Parent and Child and they reccommended me to do a search on the internet. I was very fortunate to have purchased a KEYKatcher. The ability to read my daughter's e-mail has helped us to make the right decision about the school she would attend last September..."

I mean, is there any useful use for this device at all?

Re:Just slightly OT

[Cr3d3nd0]

As a matter of fact I just found a maybe not so much legal, as a justifiable use for a keylogger. My girfriend lives at home with her mom, 6 year old brother, and her mom's boyfriend. Being the geek I am I took the time to help clean their system of spyware and the like when I ran into a few child pornography pictures in the recycle bin. Seeing as they have a 6 year old child living there I wanted to keep an eye on their system to find out where the pictures had come from. Sure enough three days later I got a log in the email of the boyfriend chatting with a young child online. I informed the mother, and the police and now the asshole is up on child porn charges. Obviously they couldn't use the keylog information but the fact that the pictures were on there was enough.

Federal wiretapping charges?

[pinkUZI]

When is the last time you remember hearing about an indictment for actual wiretapping? Doesn't it seem like people get away with wiretapping regularly? I'm thinking about things like the illegally recorded phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky. Or does the law specify exemption if it is done for a good cause?

I've used a keyboard logger

[spidergoat2]

We had a consultant (former employee) work at a branch office. The owner said to keep an eye on them. I want to the branch office and told every employee that I was installing a keyboard logger and why. When the consultant (former employee) logged on, they had no idea they were being tracked. I discovered they had a back door account and were logging into a supervisor account. Good or bad, I discovered the holes in my system.

thinkgeek disclaimer?

[circletimessquare]

so when is the disclaimer going up at thinkgeek?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/5a05/

disclaimer: please do not buy this product and use it for what you think you were going to use it for, thank you... same with that x10 camera you were thinking about too, while we're at it