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CEO of Spyware Maker Arrested For Enabling Stalkers
An anonymous reader writes: U.S. authorities have arrested and indicted the CEO of a mobile software company for selling spyware that enables "stalkers and domestic abusers." The U.S. Department of Justice accuses the man of promoting and selling software that can "monitor calls, texts, videos and other communications on mobile phones without detection." The agency pointed out this is the first criminal case based on mobile spyware, and promised to aggressively pursue makers of similar software in the future. Here's the legal filing (PDF). The FBI, with approval from a District Court, has disabled the website hosting the software.
"The indictment alleges that StealthGenie's capabilities included the following: it recorded all incoming/outgoing voice calls; it intercepted calls on the phone to be monitored while they take place; it allowed the purchaser to call the phone and activate it at any time to monitor all surrounding conversations within a 15-foot radius; and it allowed the purchaser to monitor the user's incoming and outgoing e-mail messages and SMS messages, incoming voicemail messages, address book, calendar, photographs, and videos. All of these functions were enabled without the knowledge of the user of the phone."
"The indictment alleges that StealthGenie's capabilities included the following: it recorded all incoming/outgoing voice calls; it intercepted calls on the phone to be monitored while they take place; it allowed the purchaser to call the phone and activate it at any time to monitor all surrounding conversations within a 15-foot radius; and it allowed the purchaser to monitor the user's incoming and outgoing e-mail messages and SMS messages, incoming voicemail messages, address book, calendar, photographs, and videos. All of these functions were enabled without the knowledge of the user of the phone."
...is there a link to this useful software?
I'd love to be able to do all those things on my phone.
I already record all of my calls.
If the defendants advertised carefully, they may have a legal leg to stand on.
When you are offering for sale a product or service that could be operated adjunct to a criminal offense, you'd be wise to do the CYA in triplicate.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
To me the first thing this case really hinges on is Jurisdiction and Venue, this is a Pakistani citizen living in Pakistan running a company in Pakistan.
The DOJ is basing their claim of American on this is the Amazon Cloud based webpage selling this stuff.
In reality this is a Publicity stunt through and through.
As an IT tech who has been REQUESTED to install this software on clients' childrens' devices the summary seems to leave out one vital fact: It does need Administrative rights to install in the first place. That means access to the iTunes account and/or administrator access on Android. This typically will mean physical access to the device in the first place. It *IS* marketed to paranoid parents and bosses for monitoring children/employees. So unless your stalker is STEALING your phone to install it, you only have to worry about family members..