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DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Jesse Mair was sentenced for installing spyware on a woman’s phone without her knowledge.
Using spyware to pry into a person’s digital devices is a serious problem that technology is making easier.
It is also something many Kiwis don’t know is illegal, although many think it should be.
The issue has come to light through a rare prosecution. In the Levin District Court on Friday, 33-year-old Jesse Norman Mair was sentenced to four months’ community detention after admitting a charge of intentionally accessing a computer system and gaining access to it without the owner’s knowledge.
Mair installed an app called SpyFone on a women’s phone, giving him access to everything on the device, including its camera and microphone.
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RYAN ANDERSON/Stuff
Netsafe chief executive Martin Cocker was surprised at the results of a recent survey question asking about spying on a partner’s phone.
His offending was revealed when he questioned the woman, who has name suppression, about what was said during a doctor’s appointment Mair listened in to.
According to research commissioned by internet watchdog Netsafe in June, ahead of Net Safety Week, only 27 per cent of people thought it was illegal to download an app on their partner’s phone without their knowledge so they could track their partner’s location.
The remaining 73 per cent thought it was legal, although 78 per cent of people thought it should be against the law.
Netsafe chief executive Martin Cocker said that result stood out in the survey. “I thought almost 100 per cent of people would think that should be illegal.”
Spying such as Mair’s was a problem that had been emerging for a while.
“The idea of spyware on phones has been around really since smartphones and there’s plenty of products that perform all the function of spyware.”
That included parental monitoring programs.
Netsafe is working with frontline agencies supporting women in domestic violence situations about how to deal with spying on people through their devices.
It was an issue the law hadn’t been clear about, so Mair’s prosecution was important. For example, people often gave their partners or others access to devices and revealed passwords, so proving a device was dishonesty accessed could be difficult.
“It’s a pretty serious problem and technology makes it remarkably easy.”
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The Detail asks how an ex-govt worker who planted cameras in changing rooms could have risen to be head of a crown entity using name suppression.
Recognising if spyware was secreted on a device could be difficult and many people wouldn’t suspect it could happen.
Cocker said one way to be sure it wouldn’t was to install extra security software when buying a new phone.
Mair had access to the woman’s phone for about two months in early 2020.
He had downloaded a version of SpyFone that cost about $17 and then about $130 for three months’ use, when on sale.
Its website boats of allowing “live viewing video, live screen viewing, live remote control, screen capturing, call recording, key logger and Whatsapp”.
Mair changed his plea to guilty partway through a trial, after the prosecution evidence had finished. He had earlier applied to have the charge against him thrown out.
The court heard the woman continues to fear pictures or other information from her phone will be posted on the internet.
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