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Crime Privacy Security The Courts

CEO of Spyware Maker Arrested For Enabling Stalkers 195

Posted by Soulskill from the reaping-what-you-sow dept.
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."
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CEO of Spyware Maker Arrested For Enabling Stalkers More

CEO of Spyware Maker Arrested For Enabling Stalkers

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  • Cue the TLA jokes... (Score:3)

    by Rob_Bryerton ( 606093 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @05:58PM (#48023481) Homepage
    There's an NSA joke in there somewhere...

    • Re:Cue the TLA jokes... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by msauve ( 701917 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:18PM (#48023609)
      NSA? Heck...

      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.

      Name any government law enforcement agency which would have even a moment's hesitation before using that.

      The company's only issue was a failure of marketing - they were trying to sell it to the wrong audience.

      • Re:Cue the TLA jokes... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by houstonbofh ( 602064 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:35PM (#48023701)

        The company's only issue was a failure of marketing - they were trying to sell it to the wrong audience.

        Or just that the government hates competition.

      • My first thought was "but... the children!?" ... I would think that the primary marketing for such software would be for parents. Not that I condone such actions, at the very least it would be socially acceptable.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by BarbaraHudson ( 3785311 )

          My first thought was "but... the children!?" ... I would think that the primary marketing for such software would be for parents. Not that I condone such actions, at the very least it would be socially acceptable.

          Not really. People are fed up with parents that are so insecure in their parenting skills that they're hovering around almost 100% of the time - they're called "helicopter parents" for a reason, and like real helicopters, people in the immediate neighborhood of one don't exactly appreciate their nuisance factor.

          Does anyone want to be one of "those parents?" Do you want your kids hanging around with the kids of one of "those parents" as they listen to everything your kids say and then gossip about how bad

          • Re:But... the children!? (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29, 2014 @09:30PM (#48024603)

            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..

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gl4ss ( 559668 )

          I just thought of CIA.

          like, they buy software to do this, yet FBI is blocking this company from operating. so what the fuck?

          obviously using it should be illegal for all parties though, unless you somehow tell the user that it's there and are paying for it somehow to be there..

  • But its perfectly Ok for the NSA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29, 2014 @05:58PM (#48023483)

    Double standards... gotta love'em

  • Can't let anybody but the NSA have the GOOD toys.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by He Who Has No Name ( 768306 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @05:59PM (#48023495)

    It's not an arrest for enabling stalking. It's an arrest for enabling *unapproved* stalking.

  • Sounds great... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mythosaz ( 572040 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @05:59PM (#48023499)

    ...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.

    • Yes, but it keeps saying "City Of London Police."

    • Do you warn people in your conversations that they are being recorded? Do you include a recording notification, a beep, while the conversation is going on? No? Then you'll probably have a knock on the door by the feds if you live in the US for violating wiretapping laws.

      • Re:Sounds great... (Score:5, Informative)

        by vomitology ( 2780489 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:55PM (#48023815)
        Depends on where they are. In many states, it's legal as long as one party is aware the call is being recorded.
    • it's important to note - for iphones, the app only works if the phone is jailbroken and if you have physical possession of the device and if you have the device/icloud password. also there's no jailbreak currently available for iOS 8, and considering that iOS 8 is on over half of iOS devices, you'll quite easily be SOL.

      also worth noting that not only this tool but all of the NSA type tools we've learned about require the iOS to be jailbroken first. A good argument for not jailbreaking in my book.

  • Oh Geeez (Score:4, Informative)

    by jmd ( 14060 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:04PM (#48023523)

    Can't we find something better of DoJ to do. Start with bankers please.

    • How about finding all of those guns that went south of the border first? This kind of case is just noise to distract us from the other shit the DoJ has fucked up for nearly 6 years.

  • Not sure about this. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:05PM (#48023527) Journal

    I'm not sure about this legally. The software does not infect devices, nor does it get installed through deception. It is purchased and installed by someone who has access to the device. The person who installed the software without the owner's permission (assuming that person doesn't own the phone in the first place) would be responsible for any illegal actions. An analogy is trying to bring a lawsuit against a company that produces baby monitors, because someone put a baby monitor in someone else's home without permission or notification in order to stalk them. There are legitimate uses for the software, for example a parent wanting to monitor their minor child's use of the phone. Or I might would put it on my own phone in case my phone is stolen or lost.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lehk228 ( 705449 )
      if they marketed it in ways that made it clear that they were intending for it to be used illegally they certainly can be charged.

      • Re:Not sure about this. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gandhi_2 ( 1108023 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:16PM (#48023597) Homepage

        performance cars are marketed in ways that make it clear that they are intending for them to be driven in excess of posted speed limits.
        closed circuit course. professional driver. unreadable text

        arresting someone because they produce a product that can be used illegally? first off, "they" get to make anything illegal even if they don't technically have the power. then they will interpret the laws however they want. and now, prosecute people who even enable the breaking of arbitrary laws. gun, alcohol, car, knife, baseball bat, and spray paint makers should worry about the implications.

        in fact, electronics tinkerers, makers of kits like arduinos, 3d printers, and about a billion other groups should be concerned with governments who grant themselves infinite power. "stalkers"... so like pedophiles and terrorists, a group we can invoke whenever we wanna get shit done.

        • so like pedophiles and terrorists, a group we can invoke whenever we wanna get shit done.

          The march towards abridging of inconvenient individual rights always begins at the most loathsome.

          Sympathizer, communist, witch, traitor, pedobear, terrorist... sell whatever's the current Beelzebub.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by martas ( 1439879 )

          arresting someone because they produce a product that can be used illegally

          There is a difference between "can be used illegally" and "will pretty much only be used illegally". Give me one example of something that is illegal to sell that can't be used legally.

          • Landmines? I'm really struggling to imagine a legal use of those. Probably some poisons, too, athough I suppose you could posit a researcher needing for legitimate research purposes.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by martas ( 1439879 )
              I have never heard of civilian sale or use of landmines, so I can't comment on that. As for poisons, they are primarily used for pest control, not killing people.

          • Riiiiighhhhht....

            because we ALL know that bit torrent's REAL pupose is to download Ubuntu Server iso's and Libre Office insta... GET FUCKING SERIOUS!

      • Re:Not sure about this. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:24PM (#48023641) Journal
        Yes. Which is why the clerks in a head shop are careful to explain the pipes and bongs are for tobacco use only, and the customers are urged to play along.

        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.

        • Intent matters in the law. There are things that can be legal or illegal depending on the intent behind it. This can apply to tools as well as actions. If you sell a tool for legitimate uses, you are generally fine even if the tool has some illegitimate uses too. So long as your actions, as in marketing and such, show that you intend it for legit uses, you are fine.

          A good example would be all the fine burglary tools for sale at Home Depot. A large number of the tools they sell would work very well for break

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by hoggoth ( 414195 )

            The very similar software 'Spector Pro' does the same thing, but is strongly marketed for "monitoring your children" even though the product is used 99% by suspicious spouses and control-freak bosses. I don't expect they will have any legal problems because of their marketing. A few years back they removed the ability to do a "remote covert install" likely because it crossed that line of intent. (remote convert install means it sends an email with a fake attachment "hey look at this picture of the kids play

    • This sounds like it would be better categorized as "illegal wiretapping".
    • I am sure that when he has his day in court, he will be vindicated. Like Megaupload.

    • Re:Not sure about this. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by N_Piper ( 940061 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @07:16PM (#48023935)
      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.

      • If you set foot in a country, they can arrest you for violating their laws. Doesn't matter if you aren't a citizen and live overseas. If you come there, they can arrest you. So let's say you regularly trash Islam and the Ayatollah and are well known for this. Then you travel to Iran. They very well can arrest you for that. They can't do much if you don't go there but if you show up, they can grab you.

        Now in terms of if this particular arrest is legit for the American legal system, almost certainly. Doesn't

        • If you set foot in a country, they can arrest you for violating their laws. Doesn't matter if you aren't a citizen and live overseas. If you come there, they can arrest you. So let's say you regularly trash Islam and the Ayatollah and are well known for this. Then you travel to Iran. They very well can arrest you for that. They can't do much if you don't go there but if you show up, they can grab you.

          Actually, most countries will prosecute you only for things you did in that country (including things that take effect in the country), with very few exceptions, and I have no reason to believe that Iran would be different.

        • How is this different from an American going to a foreign country, buying a stuff that's perfectly legal over there, and illegally importing it back to the US? Is the seller at fault here? Your examples feel quite contrived to me - by your logic, people offering software with strong crypto to download are wanted criminals in countries where strong crypto is illegal unless they do everything they can to prevent people from those countries from downloading it.

    • I find myself wondering what laws they actually broke...

      It's not like they did any actual wiretapping themselves, so it wasn't the wiretapping laws.

      Is there an actual law on the books that allows the Feds to arrest you for making software that ALLOWS wiretapping? If so, I suspect that the Feds should be chasing down a lot more people than just this lot...

  • NPR covered this topic recently (Score:4, Informative)

    by SpzToid ( 869795 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @06:08PM (#48023541)

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/allte... [npr.org]

  • You could argue that there are several legitmate uses for the software. IE Parents monitoring their children. Law Enforcement using the tools. Companies monitoring phones supplied to employees.
    How is this software marketed? Is it strictly to stalkers? I kind of doubt it. It's just a technology that can be used for nefarious purposes.
    You could just as easily argue that the government enables stalkers due their creation of roads and sidewalks that allow stalkers to follow their victims more easily. It is

    • Uh Law enforcement wouldn't use this, they have their own tools. Parents monitoring their kids? Plausible but it's also probably used by suspicious spouses to catch their partner in the act. It's an inevitable fact that since smart phones have become so ubiquitous now that this tool didn't show up on the radar sooner. What seems hypocritical to me in the case is that this guy sells a product that covers quite a bit of what Apple and Google do to a large extent already; track you. Of course their purpos

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by irq-1 ( 3817029 )

      You could argue that there are several legitmate uses for the software. ... How is this software marketed? Is it strictly to stalkers? I kind of doubt it. It's just a technology that can be used for nefarious purposes.

      Kim Dotcom and Megaupload made it clear that having a lawful, substantial use is not a defense. Not for todays Department of Justice.

      It is hard to see how they FBI can prove their case.

      Why would they need to? Threaten 35 years under the CFAA [wikipedia.org] and plea bargain them.

      It's the law of the jungle for software and the internet -- don't be small or slow or you might become prey.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ihtoit ( 3393327 )

        This. The mere suggestion that a device may be used to cause harm (no matter its primary purpose) is enough for these pricks to automatically assume that that was the intent. Cases such as this won't go to jury trial, it'll be on the book as a summary offence, triable by a single magistrate in a fifteen minute Star Chamber hearing.

  • While I have never used the software mentioned... It does sound like I would use something like it eventually. I would install that on my kids systems when they get old enough that I allow them to use them unattended in a heartbeat for monitoring. All cellphones usually have an audio recorder. Should all phone makers also be arrested for selling devices that can record conversations without notification to others that they are being recorded? There should already be laws that can apply to be people for

    • If you don't trust your kids then you have a more serious issue. You can see if there's a problem just by looking at the phone bill. Kids will be kids but you have to lead by example so they don't get themselves into a situation that could compromise their privacy or security.

    • Should we arrest hammer makers, knife makers, email software developers, because their software can and is used for nefarious purposes?

      They are working at it...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PRMan ( 959735 )
      Your kids are going to hate you and rebel so badly. I had a friend who monitored his son like this. The son ended up going to jail.

    • http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc... [cornell.edu]

      and no it doesn't apply to hammer makers, knife makers, phone makers, or of course to the government (don't you love it when they give themselves an explicit pass)

    • android device manager? Cerberus? and anything that "find my phone" would yield in the play store would do more or less the same thing.

  • What's a father to do? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Clearly, these people do not have teenage daughters.

  • Don't say it... (Score:3)

    by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Monday September 29, 2014 @07:26PM (#48024015)

    Moral of this story if your going to sell apps intended for nefarious purposes you should advertise only "legitimate" and not illegal uses of said app and demonstrate a legitimate convincing use case.

    In the real world it is hard to understand how this translates into good policy or in any way works to improve society.

    You can arrest the low hanging fruit of loud mouths yet doing so will cause remaining sellers of functionally equivalent software now and in the future to change descriptions to avoid arrest and buyers to moderate keywords they use to locate desired software.

    Nothing is actually changed and being arrested for technicalities does not "send a message" it is an exercise in futility and waste of taxpayer resources.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by martas ( 1439879 )
      What's the alternative? Don't go after anyone doing anything illegal, because there might be ways for others to get away with it? Yes, there might be copies of this that are advertised more covertly, and hell, if a stalker is sufficiently motivated they can learn to code and make the software themselves, but part of the point of going after low hanging fruit is that it is also the low hanging fruit for people intending to do something illegal. I for one think it's a good thing if a potential stalker has to

      • What's the alternative? Don't go after anyone doing anything illegal, because there might be ways for others to get away with it?

        The alternative is simply focus on those actually conducting illegal activities rather than those producing dual-use tools.

        I for one think it's a good thing if a potential stalker has to work a bit harder to accomplish their goal than going to the play store and searching "stalk my girlfriend".

        Changing a few words in search term does not constitute a serious barrier to entry.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by martas ( 1439879 )
          But providing tools mainly designed for illegal use is itself illegal, so they are going after someone conducting illegal activities.
  • A parent might be able to better protect a child with this kind of software. And it might also catch a lot of criminals as well. To me if the end user misuses the product it is all on the end user and not on the company that sold the software. It is like selling a pistol. Thank God we can own a good pistol. It is up to the buyer to use than pistol legally . Whiskey is another similar item. We can't blame the distillers if people drink irresponsibly. So why this special attitude in regard to so
    • >A parent might be able to better protect a child with this kind of software.

      more likely they'll creep on their kid until he goes insane. I think the sad reality, is we've sold our nation's parents "there is something wrong with your kid", and "your children aren't safe" so fucking hard to push a whole bunch of worthless commericial products, and very harmful political ideas down our throats.

      We need to just stop. The kids where fine before hand. They'll be fine. If we really want to do what is best for o

  • ...I know, old and tired argument, but when are they going to start arresting automakers for causing traffic fatalities?

    • The argument may be tired because it keeps being dragged out. it's certainly not tired of being incorrect though. I'd like to see a world where it can retire in peace, living out its days in a wicker chair with a rug over it's legs telling the youth "you've never had it so good".

  • By this same logic shouldn't we be arresting the CEO of baseball bat companies because someone could use one to assault someone, not to mention say gun manufacturers, knife companies etc...

  • One wonder why this guy would travel to America if he knew he could get arrested for his business. Only thing I can think of was that he actually didn't know it was illegal. Relevant law: Title 18,United States Code, Section 2512(l)(b) (sale of an interception device).
  • It's quite OK to mass-produce cellphones that can be tapped and controlled in this way.

    But apparently it's not OK to sell software to allow people to use their perfectly ordinary cellphone to pick up other conversations from its vicinity.

    How about securing the transmissions of cellphones instead of prosecuting someone for doing the obvious?

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