Mobile Spying – What’s Possible, Ethical Or Useful?
Many widely used mobile apps have a legitimate feature - remote mobile monitoring. Is this any different from illegitimate spyware?
What was unheard of almost a decade ago is currently in common practice in the form of large called spying on mobiles. Starting with Atir Raihan’s brainchild, FlexiSpy in 2003 that he deliberately designed to expose the misbehaviour of his girlfriend. Today, the market is teeming with duplicate applications, all built with the common purpose of remote mobile monitoring.
When it comes to the possibilities of what we can do with such applications, they are numerous and are being improved with every new, booster features injected into these apps regularly. Likewise, there is no denying the usefulness of such cutting edge products but when it comes to ethics, people have different, often conflicting opinions over the use of such technology.
Let’s explore how these applications work and how they can be positively recruited for various purposes, leaving the question of ethics to be dealt at the end.
Possibilities:
Unlike spyware that can be installed remotely, these monitoring software require physical access to the device itself. These applications are normally compatible with different operating systems including Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS, Nokia’s Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows. This means that you can monitor mobiles as well as tablets.
On purchasing the application, the company sends you a welcome email that contains a download link and the credentials you would be needing to sign in to your online control panel. In order to install the application on the target device, you first need to download it.
Once successfully installed, you are all set to steer your way through the target device. All you need to do is to sign into the online user account, using the username and password provided to you by the company.
On the Menu on the user dashboard, you will see a list of items that you can choose from and view details for their activity. Here are a few of them. Let’s explore what each of these can do for you.
- Call logs:
This gives you a complete record of all incoming, outgoing and missed calls with the name of each sender and receiver as well as the date, time and duration of each call. - SMS logs:
If you are interested in finding out the messages sent and received on the target device, this is for you. You can not only look into the names and numbers of senders and recipients but also read complete messages, each stamped with the date and time at which it took place. Some advanced features include retrieving old and deleted messages but are only provided by a few. - Call Recording:
Call logs give you a general overview of who the target connects with. It reveals the identity and number of each caller and receiver, as well as the duration, date and time for each call. However, this info is not very helpful when it comes to settling your doubts or listening to the telephonic conversation itself. - Live call interception:
What if you want to catch someone red handed or save your child from a confrontation in the nick of time? A lot of apps have solved this problem by introducing the live call interception feature. Unlike call recording that gives you past records only, this feature not only gives you the real-time news but, also records the conversation and send it down to your control panel. - Internet Browsing history:
Whether you are a worried parent or a concerned employee, this feature will help you take a sneak peek at the browsing habits of your kids and employees respectively. Look into the list of visited websites by checking out the Internet history. - E-mails:
E-mails are more detailed and are used mainly for official purposes only. So if you want to know what kind of electronic mails is being exchanged right under your nose, a spy app can fulfill your wish. Monitor all incoming and outgoing emails badged with complete details of the senders, recipients, time and day for each mail. - Applications:
Smartphone and tablet owners are very fond of downloading dozens of applications on their devices. Applications can be a lot of fun but at the same time, some of them can be disguised malware and a gateway for hackers. With this innovative feature, you can remotely control what apps reside on the target phone or device. You can start, pause and stop applications, even delete them at your discretion. - Contacts:
With Spy apps, finding your way into the phone’s address book is no longer a figment of your imagination. Scroll through the contact list to not only retrieve name and numbers alone but any kind of information fed on the phone, pertaining to any or all users. Moreover, you can modify the contact list by adding or deleting contact numbers. - Reminders and calendar entries:
Want to see what plans the subject has in mind? What is he/she up to? Then dive into the Reminder and Calendar section to find that out. Browsing through the ‘Reminder’ section tells you what important tasks the person intends to perform in the future and the calendar entries tell you about the pre-decided stuff such as any scheduled meetings or appointments. This can give you a good idea of the person’s whereabouts and social activity to look for any signs of suspicion. - GPS Location:
With Geo Positioning Satellites always on the watch, tracing locations no longer remain far-fetched, especially when there is an in-built GPS tracker on the spy app that you just installed on your phone or tablet. It enables you to find out the target’s current position as well as a complete record of previously visited places. Point to point surveillance is made possible by recording the routes taken, which are represented on the Google’s map for better understanding and representation. - Instant messaging:
It is difficult to keep count of the numerous IM applications that have clogged the market in the past decade or so. Just imagine the difficulty of monitoring each and every app, given that they are mostly free and always exist as multiples on any person’s list of applications. Thanks to these monitoring apps, you can smoothly sail through multiple IM services simultaneously, without going through the hassle of cracking passwords and the fear of being caught. - Photos and videos:
If you are worried about confidential information being leaked out or inappropriate content being watched, this is for you. Steer through multimedia files including photos, MMS, audios and video content on the target phone or device. - Camera and mic bug:
This is a highly advanced feature rolled out by certain spy-app companies such as TheOneSpy. This takes your monitoring experience to a newer level, where you can directly activate the camera and microphone on the device. By doing so, you can capture images of the target’s background and listen to ambient sounds. - Wipe-up data:
In the case of loss or theft, you can use this feature to wipe out all data on your device. This saves you from the potential danger of your personal data being misused.
Having said this, the use of spy apps is not only about being-the-bad-guy and has actually yielded benefits to society. As far as the monitored party knows about the surveillance, it never hurts to modify the definition of ‘ethics’ once in a while.
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