Makers of spyware deny marketing their apps to stalkers in domestic-abuse cases | News
Summary
" "It can be your kid, it can be your partner, it can be your boyfriend, girlfriend, depends," a man who answered Mobistealths customer service line and identified himself only as Fahad, told CBC. In a released this week, The Citizen Lab, a research centre at the University of Toronto, describes how abusers can easily purchase so-called stalkerware applications and download them to their victims mobile devices without their knowledge. With the app installed, a user can remotely monitor the targets every move, including phone calls, text messages, emails, online activity and location. In the report, titled The Predator in Your Pocket, researchers at The Citizen Lab at the University of Torontos Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy examined eight popular spyware apps sold as tools to keep track of children or employees. The email also included a software-licence agreement in which purchasers agree that the Flexispy app is designed for legal use, that it will not be installed without permission, nor be used to "harass, abuse, stalk, threaten, defame or otherwise infringe or violate the rights of any other person.