Company Encourages Jailbreaking To Spy on Your Family
Software to monitor computer use is nothing new. Keyloggers and other such spyware has been around for ages and it's really just a matter of different implementations. There aren't as many Mac-compatible products to spy on your loved ones as there are for the PCs out there, but they do exist. However, Retina-X Studios is probably the first to implement a monitoring device for the iPad with their Mobile Spy software.Claiming that the program will start up in the background and run every time the iPad is turned on, the pitch goes on to explain that the Mobile Spy software will "record URL website activity, E-mail activity, and Contacts and then silently upload the data to your private Mobile Spy account using the Internet." Suspicious parents or spouses need only log in to their account from any other computer and view all this activity, time-stamped and served on a platter.However, the way it sounds like the software is designed, it seems like it'd be easy to get around, as it only appears to monitor the browser, the emails, and your contact access. That is, just Apple's default software. Nowhere does the Mobile-Spy's product description explain whether use of Opera Mini rather than Safari will circumvent these features, nor if you use other third party apps to view your pornography, text your mistress, or download pictures to Wobble.And, at the same time, there's a huge catch that's obvious to anyone who either a.) knows Apple's mobile devices or b.) read the headline above. To install such a huge security risk onto your iPad, you first have to jailbreak your iPad. As the sales pitch mentions to explain the jailbreaking necessary, the "iPad is not able to run more than one program at a time." Nor will Mobile-Spy jailbreak the iPad (or iPhone) for you. So the scenario is that not only do you have to suspect an iPad user of nefarious activity, you have to jailbreak that person's device and wait for them to get up to no good, then explain why the iPad was jailbroken in the first place if your spouse tries to update the OS.Speaking of operating systems, we're guessing that even once iPhone OS 4.0 hits the street with its sweet multitasking goodness, you'll still need to jailbreak your iPad as there's little chance of this app clearing the App Store.
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/company_encourages_jailbreaking_spy_your_family
