Stealthy software an invasion of privacy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/07/2004 (7903 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HERE’S a new twist on the computer privacy issue — a New Hampshire company is selling software that allows you to spy on other people on your network, or anyone who uses your computer, when you are not around. This new breed of surveillance software, in effect, allows you to wiretap your own computer or network so that you can keep on eye on the online activities of others in your home or workplace.

The company is called ExploreAnywhere Software, LLC of Kingston, N.H., and its list of products include titles such as SpyBuddy, Keylogger, NETObserve, iSpyNOW, ChatBlocker WebMail Spy and Parental Control Suite.

The company describes SpyBuddy, its leading consumer product, as an award-winning, powerful monitoring and surveillance suite. “SpyBuddy will record all PC and Internet browsing habits for you to review at a later date and time. Perfect for monitoring spouses and children!” ExploreAnywhere says on its website.

“The reach of the web and Internet gives our children, employees, co-workers, partners and spouses a great deal of access to unsuitable material and potentially dangerous people. As a responsible parent, employee or partner, it’s up to you to make sure that what they are exposed to and are doing is safe, legal and acceptable,” said company spokesman Bryan Hammond.

“SpyBuddy allows you to monitor all areas of your PC, tracking every action down (to) the last keystroke pressed or the last file deleted,” Hammond said.

SpyBuddy can record all AOL, ICQ, MSN, AIM and Yahoo chat conversations, all websites visited, all windows opened and interacted with, every application executed, every document printed, every file or folder renamed and/or modified, all text and images sent to the clipboard, every keystroke pressed, every password typed.

And it does this in a stealth mode, so that those being watched never know that you are lurking in the background.

The latest version of SpyBuddy also allows you to monitor and record all e-mail that is sent and received on a PC, as long as the e-mail accounts are POP3 and SMTP compatible (which is virtually all e-mail). Other features include the ability to record all images viewed within Internet Explorer or AOL, and find out how many times the image has been viewed.

All this for just $49.99 (US). Yikes.

While some will argue that this is a positive security move, allowing parents, for example, to keep a watchful eye on what their children are doing online.

But frankly, this kind of spyware gives me the creeps, because it can (and does — if you believe the testimonials “satisfied” customers have posted online) lead to massive abuse and invasion of privacy.

“I suspected my girlfriend of cheating on me, but she constantly denied it, so I purchased and installed the SpyBuddy product,” one John Liechty said in a post on the ExploreAnywhere website. “I was able to obtain her e-mail password and then checked her e-mail and found out that she had been having a relationship with a guy for almost a month…”

This simply goes too far. Protecting children is one thing; spying on people, stealing their passwords and stalking them is quite another.

paul.pihichyn@freepress.mb.ca