Let’s Talk About IT: Spy Apps – To Spy or To Be Spied On?

Let’s Talk About IT: Spy Apps – To Spy or To Be Spied On?

Spy apps, we’ve all heard about them, but what exactly do we know about them? Let’s weigh in and LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.

Spy apps. The concept has been around for decades if you actually think about it. Take 007, you know – James Bond – the infamous spy that everyone has heard of at least a few times in their life, he’d mastered the game of spying on the bad guys utilizing gadgets that we could only dream of. You know, gadgets like false fingerprints, or the ring camera 007 used in the movie, A View to a Kill. As we fast forward to decades later, we have come to the realization that there are many tools available in today’s market that will allow users to spy on others, whether it be their significant other or even their employee, the technology does in fact exist and it is not expensive to purchase.

Watch out world! You never know who’s actually watching you…. Scary thought, right?

Let’s face it, as technology continues to evolve, it is seemingly apparent that our privacy will continue to be depleted along the way, but is there a positive to all of this madness? Let’s talk about it.

Spy apps are applications or software that are designed to allow users to secretly check the call history, location, messages, and contacts of another individual. Apps as such collect sensitive device information that the software recognizes as sensitive data and passes that information on to the user that installed the software. Yes, the user that installed the software, let that sink in.

Spy apps are typically installed in a manner that the owner of the device is unaware of, and the software runs on the device in the background with no notifications or indications that the software exists on the device. With the owner of the device being oblivious to the presence of the software, they go about their day and use their device as normal. Meanwhile, the installer is collecting and interpreting the data as it is collected.

Creepy, right? Or, is it?

It can be said that the original reason spy apps were created was largely due to infidelity between spouses or significant others, but over the years the need for spy apps has been expanded to the desire for a parent to know the activities and whereabouts of their children, and for employers to understand the whereabouts of confidential company information as well as understanding how their employees communicate with clients. Spy apps typically offer packages that consist of the number of tracking devices required, e.g. a company owner may consider a package for 20 devices to be tracked, so to make sure the employees are not intentionally/ unintentionally leaking out any confidential information on any digital platforms. Parents on the other hand may need additional transparency with their children to validate their whereabouts and activities.

Here is what comes to mind for us, a quote from the past that resonates well with our present times and our future: “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”- Albert Einstein, he was correct then, and he is correct now. Technology will continue to advance, and it will continue to innovate.

I’ll conclude with this final thought: spy apps are a great tool for the one who wants to spy, but spy apps are a not so good tool for the one being spied upon. In whatever case whether we like spy apps or not, they are here to stay.

If you have had an experience with a spy app (spied on, or spying), what was your experience? We’d love to hear about your experience, LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.