Put to the test
Abusers have been known to use victims fingerprints to access phones to install the software I tested out one of the most popular consumer products, which costs £140 for three months of surveillance. I bought it online and installed it on to my work phone. It took me about an hour and I used the 24-hour live support offered by the company when I encountered any problems. Spyware companies advertise their services as "employee monitoring" or "parental control" products. In many countries, including the UK, using the spyware on a spouse without their permission is illegal, so many of the companies' websites are littered with disclaimers advising against this. However, some of the same websites link to articles, seemingly written by associates, recommending the software as a spy tool for "cheatings wives and husbands". In a live chat with the company whose product I was testing, I directly told them: "I want to install this on my wife's phone, will it be secret?" The customer service-representative responded: "The application will start to work in stealth mode right after installation. I'll be happy to help." I also downloaded five of the top cyber-security products on to the infected mobile and carried out a free scan. All of them gave alerts for "potentially harmful software".The Crown Prosecution Service says there aren't specific laws related to the use of stalkerware but any criminal activity like this can be prosecuted by a number of means including the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Amy says more should be done to legislate against the use of these technologies. "They need to stop hiding behind plausible deniability," she says. "There is a wink that's given when they send this little disclaimer that says, 'We don't approve of you spying on wives.' They know what they're customers are doing though. This software causes real harm."
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