“mSpy has been helping people monitor each other’s phone activity since 2011, and the London-based company is now setting up shop in New York City’s Financial District,” Molly Mulshine reports for Betabeat.
“Founders Andrei Shimanovich and Alex Herts, of Belarus, started the company in 2011. Mr. Shimanovich was looking for a way to keep tabs on his rebellious teen sister, while Mr. Herts saw his former company almost fall apart because of a digital security breach,” Mulshine reports. “The smartphone monitoring software they devised keeps track of users’ phone calls, texts, browsers, and even their WhatsApp activity. It sounds legally dubious, but the founders assured Betabeat this week that the use of mSpy is legal as long as a device’s owner knows they’re under surveillance. There’s no one enforcing those rules, per se, but if you decide to track a spouse, for example, and they find out, they could take legal action.
“Spying on your children and underlings doesn’t come free, though. Packages start at $39.99 per month, per device,” Mulshine reports. “Soon, the startup will also offer bundled packages so you can buy a device with the software preloaded, making it prettttty tempting to casually not tell your boyfriend or girlfriend that their new cell phone is actually a highly sophisticated monitoring device.”
Read more in the full article here.