by Laura Lieff

Mobile telephone spyware is here. Are you being spied on through your mobile telephone? The scary part is, you have no way of knowing whether you are or are not. The shocking, incredibly intrusive spyware has arrived and is available to anyone, anywhere. Those who are worried about misbehaving children or cheating spouses can save money on a private investigator by using the latest “Big Brother” type technology money can buy. All it takes is choosing any one of the many mobile spyware software Web sites, downloading the software and paying a few hundred dollars for a subscription.

The Chronicle participated in an experimental demonstration to see how mobile phone spyware really works. All we had to do was to go to www.flexispy (one of the many popular spyware sites) and pay $350 for a year subscription. Neil Ambinder volunteered to carry a telephone on which the FlexiSPY software was downloaded. This allowed his fiancée Jennifer Jordon to spy on him for the day. It took less than 10 minutes to load the phone (which would be carried by Neil) and there was no way for Neil to know whether or not the phone had been tampered with. For maximum effect the target telephone (in this case, Neil’s phone) should be an iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia Series 60, Windows Mobile or a similar mobile telephone which has access to the Internet, e-mails, text messages, etc.

How It Works

The spyware essentially gives you eyes into another person’s personal life without them knowing it. After accessing the FlexiSPY Web site and entering Neil’s number, it allowed Jennifer to receive copies of all of Neil’s call logs, text messages and e-mails and even allowed her to watch where Neil was driving through Google Maps. Neil’s phone with the spyware acts as a GPS device. With Neil carrying the mobile phone with him, at the end of the day Jennifer was able to download a map from FlexiSPY showing every place he had been.

In addition, everything that is said on the telephone is being automatically recorded onto the FlexiSPY Web site so if the monitor (Jennifer) doesn’t have time to spy on the target live, the monitor can always catch up on the spying that was missed at a later time. The spyware tells you who the call is from based on the name entered on the phone. It will even alert you to the use of designated words or phrases such as “profit margin,” “drugs” or “sex.” It will also provide you with a transcript of all calls.

Even more shocking to us was the fact with the spyware installed, the mobile telephone becomes a bugging device. The spyware serves not only as a tap on your cell phone but also records all conversations as long as the phone is on to take incoming calls. Since Neil had the telephone with him all day, every conversation was recorded whether or not he was on the mobile phone. If you wanted to bug a board room, for example, just leave the phone in the room and you will be able to hear every conversation that takes place in that room.

Shocking And Scary

“Even though we both knew what was going on it was still shocking to be able to literally track Neil’s every move and hear every word that came out of his mouth,” said Jennifer. “It was so strange to watch where he was driving, what stores he was passing by and what he was saying while driving.”

Every time Neil made a phone call Jennifer could spy on her fiancé by listening in on everything he said and every conversation he had. There was even an option to join in the conversation if Jennifer wanted to even though that gives away that the telephone has spyware installed. However, concerned parents might find such a feature highly convenient.

“Spyware is a total invasion of privacy and it’s really scary that there is this kind of software out there for anyone to use,” Neil noted. “This could hurt people in so many ways, especially if a person is in business or politics.”

According to the FlexiSPY site, downloading spyware is the best way to “protect your children [or] catch cheating spouses.” The site also recommends spyware to “stop employee espionage, make automatic backups and bug meeting rooms.”

“After launching FlexiSPY around the world, we’ve received thousands of testimonials from customers who have caught their spouses cheating on them, their children behaving inappropriately, and from company executives who have used FlexiSPY to nab disloyal employees,” said Atir Raihan, Managing Director of FlexiSPY Co. Ltd. “FlexiSPY can be used by anyone with access to a supported mobile device and is a great way to verify and deal appropriately with such activities.”

Making People Paranoid

As our experiment continued, we watched Jennifer track Neil’s day of driving around town, including calling and texting to various friends. We could also see the name of the contact appear on Jennifer’s phone.

“Initially I didn’t know that I was being listened to without even using the phone,” Neil explained. “I was in the car with one of my coworkers and Jennifer was listening to our conversation without me being on the phone. My car was literally being bugged by Jennifer!”

He continued, “It made me feel like the only safe way to carry a cell phone is to have it off which defeats the purpose of having it. This whole experiment made me very paranoid (and I’m not a paranoid person) and it made me think that there is no safe way to avoid being a victim of this technology.”

Although the FlexiSPY site claims that “while FlexiSPY is a product that runs invisibly and collects data on mobile devices where it is installed…it does not masquerade itself as something it is not, nor does it replicate itself like a virus would.” The site also explains that “FlexiSPY must be consciously installed on the device by a user who has physical possession of that device…[and that] FlexiSPY does not collect or share data with anyone.”

“All anyone who wants to spy on another party has to do is ‘borrow’ the other person’s phone for 10 minutes while they’re at the gym or in the shower and the person will have no idea that it has been done nor will they ever know,” Jennifer said.

Adds Neil, “This technology is disturbing and I think it’s over the line when it comes to privacy. The scariest part is that I’m sure that very few people know about this.”

Is It Moral? Is It Legal?

According to Dr. Steve Beaty, who is a Metro State Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, there is no way to prevent someone from uploading FlexiSPY software onto your phone, nor is there any way to detect that it’s there.

“This technology outstrips our morals, ethics and our laws,” said Beaty.

Moreover, he indicated that he believes that sometime in the near future people will be able to remotely install the software without having the phone itself.

The legality of recording others conversations and the bugging of rooms depends a great deal on the interpretation of state law and the facts and circumstances of the ownership of the telephone. Present laws do not contemplate mobile spyware and the use of mobile spyware may become a matter of litigation for years to come.

For now on the old adage “to be forewarned is to be forearmed” is certainly the case.