Who are Mobile Spy?
Like Stealthgenie, Mobile Spy provide smartphone and tablet monitoring software. And like the rest of the mobile monitoring industry, including FlexiSPY, they have been reevaluating their business model and it’s operation in light of the indictment of Invocode CEO, Hamad Akbar.
It’s instructive to see what steps they have taken to comply with Title 18 USC 2512, and to consider if these may be enough for them to get a clean bill of health from US law.
Website Redesign
In the immediate aftermath, Mobile Spy took their sales site offline for a few days in order to make changes to both their product and advertising to help make sure their product adheres to the law.
The first thing to notice is that they have removed all references to cheating spouses, and now talk only about child and employee monitoring.
Mobile Spy’s website is now back online with Mobile Spy’s software still being advertised as ‘smartphone monitoring software’ with a focus only on parents and employees with some notable change in language
They now state that you must notify the child or employee being monitored first. They also say that the software is tamper-proof which means that it cannot be removed without knowing the PIN code first. This means that they are adverting that Mobile Spy can be used in a legal manner.
Mobile Spy have also updated their legal terms to read that the software is primarily used for monitoring children and employers only and that they do not condone its use for other purposes.
To Mobile Spy’s credit, they also sent out emails to all of their affiliates outlining the planned changes. Here is an excerpt that clearly shows they take this seriously.
“We do cooperate with law enforcement in criminal investigations, and we do not condone the use of our products for illegal or unethical purposes.’ and they followed this up by saying “there will be a PIN protected icon listed along with the rest of the applications on the device’”
They also state that ‘the user of the device will be aware of monitoring activities’
This could not have been an easy pill to swallow.
While they excluded any uses by spouses, they also clarified in great detail, what other relationships can and cannot use their product. The list is as follows.
Here Mobile Spy is seen with their new legal policy
Product Redesign
Mobile took the painful decision to also stop selling their product and redesign it. The new product is not currently available, but they have been very clear.
They will remove any invisibility, and their product will show as an icon on the device homescreen. They say that the app can be opened using a PIN.
We are not sure how this will affect their market share and revenue, but this is also a brave decision.
Without wanting to capitalize on Mobile Spy’s troubles, we would like to let readers know that FlexiSPY has always had the option to operate with visible icon, if that was required. It will be interesting to see if Mobile Spy also choose visibility as an option or if visibility will be mandatory.
Mobile spy disclaimer
Mobile Spy Server Location
Mobile Spy is still based in the US and they host their servers in the US as anyone can verify by looking up the IP address of their online logs portal. Retina X Studios who created Mobile Spy are based in Jacksonville, Florida and their address is freely listed on the Mobile Spy website.
Is Mobile Spy now safe from the law?
This is an impossible question to answer, as the USA law is very unclear, and can easily be interpreted to cover many mundane devices and uses. We will know more in the near future, as everything hinges around the legal definition of the term “surreptitious interception”
However, as Mobile Spy are an American company, they are currently making widespread changes to how their software operates and it will take time to see these changes complete.
It may be some time before Mobile Spy is back online fully with their new software ready, and this was confirmed when we spoke to their support staff. We wish them all the best in their endeavors to make their software comply with what the USA law demands of it, and we hope to see them back online soon.