Spy(ware) Vs. Spy(ware): Indictments For One Creator, Law Enforcement Plaudits For The Other
from the it's-like-they-don't-even-hear-the-words-coming-out-of-their-mouths dept
Compare and contrast:
Product A
Alerts for terms used in Chat or Texting.Product B
Access to videos as well as web, camera and cell phone images loaded on device.
Review & delete images.
Email, Print or Save results.
View Internet History Log.
Keystroke logging.
View sent/received text messages.One of these products is handed out by law enforcement agencies. One just had its creator arrested after an FBI investigation.
Access chatlogs.
Look at photos, videos, music stored on device.
View visited sites and bookmarks.
Alerts for suspicious words.
Product A is ComputerCOP, a deeply-flawed set of tools that allows parents to spy on their children's computer activities, provided they don't mind getting hundreds of false positives returned during searches or having passwords stored as plaintext by the built-in keylogger.
Product B is StealthGenie, a piece of software aimed at giving the inherently suspicious (or routinely cuckolded) person surreptitious access to everything on their significant other's phone. The full set of features included are astounding, including location info, email access, eavesdropping via the built-in mic and the perverse ability to lock or wipe someone else's phone.
It's not that the FBI was wrong to shut down the sale of this software, even if it does sound like the sort of thing the agency wishes it could deploy rather than terminate. It's that the law enforcement-approved tool set overlaps so heavily with something aimed at tearing the digital roof off someone else's life.
ComputerCOP -- unlike the more (necessarily) targeted StealthGenie -- doesn't ultimately care who's using the device it's installed on. You may just want to track your kids' internet activity, but anyone who uses it while it's activated will have their web history -- along with any keystrokes entered -- automatically logged. If anything, ComputerCOP is a cheap, legal alternative to StealthGenie, even if it's strictly limited to personal computers.
But one of these is being handed out by law enforcement agencies without any oversight (and with loads of misinformation). The other was the subject of a federal investigation. There's a certain amount of disconnection here, similar to law enforcement's use of encryption to protect themselves from criminals but wanting to deny the public the same option.
Just replace "StealthGenie" with "ComputerCOP" in these statements from the FBI's press release and see if it ultimately makes any difference. [h/t to Techdirt reader Will Klein]
"Selling spyware is not just reprehensible, it's a crime," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell. "Apps like StealthGenie are expressly designed for use by stalkers and domestic abusers who want to know every detail of a victim's personal life -- all without the victim's knowledge."Spyware is spyware, whether it's sporting a uniform and a badge or an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs.
“StealthGenie has little use beyond invading a victim’s privacy” said U.S. Attorney Boente. “Advertising and selling spyware technology is a criminal offense, and such conduct will be aggressively pursued by this office and our law enforcement partners.”
“This application allegedly equips potential stalkers and criminals with a means to invade an individual’s confidential communications,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge McCabe. “They do this not by breaking into their homes or offices, but by physically installing spyware on unwitting victims’ phones and illegally tracking an individual’s every move. As technology continues to evolve, the FBI will investigate and bring to justice those who use illegal means to monitor and track individuals without their knowledge.”
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: computercop, doj, fbi, key logger, law enforcement, legality, privacy, spyware, stealthgenie
Companies: computercop, stealthgenie
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
That's the difference, until someone can prove otherwise.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
...but then it was copied by overexuberant LEAs and given out free. Like heroin by pushers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
That's why head shops sell things like "incense" and "bath salts" -- hoping that most customers can deduce for themselves what these things are really intended for. Otherwise, they'd be raided and shut down in a heartbeat.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
The upshot here is that if StealthGenie had marketed their spyware as a way to protect children then they would not have their current legal problems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Looking at their website, this is exactly how they market it. I'm assuming that there is some communication outside of their website that opened them to criminal action, but I haven't actually seen it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I remember a story of a wife in the USA who got placed under house arrest for accessing her husbands email account. All she did was sit down at the family computer and start reading his emails since he left his account logged in. She almost got prison time, but the husband convinced the court to reduce the charges.
Don't mess with other people's private data.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Got a case number?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
It's quite possible Bengie was thinking of that case, but he mentioned a wife being arrested for the act and her almost getting prison and a reduction, rather than dismissal, of the charges on the husband's request.
A request for a case number in this scenario is valid since googling Bengie's version doesn't seem to come up with anything (and this would be a widely reported story if it had indeed happened). It takes a special kind of idiot prosecutor to charge a spouse with that. Even the case of Leon Walker was something I'd expect to see on Judge Judy. It's a civil matter, not a criminal one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
If you give someone access to your computer you can logg (and it's done automatically on most computers anyway) EVERY SINGLE THING they do because YOU OWN the computer, you have the right to see and understand what they are doing.
Where the illegality comes in is if you then use there passwords you have seen to access any of their accounts intentionally and without authorisation.
As for the wife who accessed her husbands emails - case citations or you are instead remembering FUD that is urban mythology. Again unless the wife was intentionally and without lawful authority accessing her husbands account then she is perfectly fine to see what has been written whilst they are still legally married and all computer equipment is therefore jointly owned and authorised.
anyone who believes your tripe you have written is now dumber for the experience
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
I don't know how to look up cases, but it's in the news...
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/12/28/husband-loses-bid-to-have-hacking-case-dismissed-for-reading- wifes-email/
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/appeals-court-rules-husband-can-be-charged-criminally-f or-reading-wifes-email/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
I'm not an attorney, this is not legal advice, however: there are certain classes of professionals who are required to keep certain communications confidential, e.g. lawyers and doctors. If you're one of those and if you're engaged in protected communication, isn't it your (legal) obligation to ensure that you are maintaining that confidentiality, to the best of your ability? (For example, an attorney probably shouldn't talk to a client while in a crowded elevator and a doctor shouldn't print out patient email on a publicly-accessible printer.)
I'll leave it to those qualified to address the legal points to ascertain whether I'm on track or have gone off the rails here, but it certainly seems to me that one's ethical obligation is to avoid disclosure of these kinds of communications. Lawyers -- is it also one's legal obligation?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
No, not anything and everything. They must report when child abuse is happening or there is an imminent danger that the person will hurt someone. They don't have to fully and completely report everything that was said.
"Priests are the only ones exempt from snitch rules"
In 27 states (as of 2013), priests are also mandatory reporters. In 18 states, everyone is a mandatory reporter. (Source: https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/clergymandated.pdf)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The other is aimed at secretly putting it on another adult's phone against their will. A phone that, if it's not your spouse, you may not have any ownership over whatsoever.
This is a big difference.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Speaking of spyware...
http://www.techworm.net/2014/10/microsofts-windows-10-permission-watch-every-move.html
The statements made in that article do seem to match up with the "Privacy Policy" here:
https://insider.windows.com/Home/PrivacyStatement
However I haven't made an exhaustive check, so perhaps I overlooked something.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Speaking of spyware...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Speaking of spyware...
If these terms persist to the final product, however, then it guarantees that I'll never touch Windows 10.
There is an easy way to stop this, regardless of the terms of the contract, though. Block all traffic to and from Microsoft servers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
policing the police
And it's not just computer code. "Operation Fast and Furious" was another example of how the people we trust with safeguarding our liberty and keeping us safe (i.e., 'the government') often turn out to be the ones who end up harming us the most.
It's a pervasive problem that the "tools of enforcement" - whatever they might be - are in the hands of a class of people who all too often are careless and arrogant with the powers that the citizenry naively trusts them with.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
U jelly, cops?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not that it matters all that much
Thought ComputerCOP was computers only, but it is listed as being able to: capture "cell phone images"?
Just thought I would check.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not that it matters all that much
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Good For The FBI
Finally! The FBI will make sure that the NSA isn't illegally monitoring or tracking anyone.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
a distinction without a difference
The only difference between when the "bad guys" and the "good guys" do these things is that the "good guys" have a larger, better-armed organization behind them, and tend to get away with their criminal actions almost every time. Just as the victors write history, so too do the most powerful criminals define justice.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If those in power are deploying spyware, then it perfectly legal. If a company like FinFisher is selling spyware to governments in power, then that's perfectly legal too.
The legal explanation doesn't get any more clean-cut than that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Alternatives
OwnSpy is the best kids monitoring software for your phone or tablet. You can test it for free! ( FREE 1 day membership )
We are giving you the opportunity to check us out before you join. For more information please visit our site:
http://ownspy.com/main.php
[ link to this | view in chronology ]