two creators A phone monitoring service appears to have shut down after its owner agreed to settle state charges that it illegally promoted spyware developed by his company.
PhoneSpector and Highster were consumer phone monitoring apps that facilitated covert monitoring of personal smartphones. These apps, commonly referred to as stalkerware (or spouseware), are usually implanted by a spouse or domestic partner on an individual's cell phone, usually with knowledge of the device's passcode. These apps are designed to hide from your home screen, making them difficult to find and delete, while also uploading your phone's messages, photos, and real-time location data to a dashboard where abusers can view them. I will continue to do so.
In February 2023, Patrick Hinchey, whose consortium of New York and Florida-based technology companies developed Phone Spectre and Hyster, announced that Hinchey's company was promoting spyware that allows for covert phone surveillance of individuals and was “aggressively involved.” The company agreed to pay $410,000 in fines to resolve charges that it advertised the same. I live in New York state.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said at the time that Hinchey's company used blog posts that explicitly encouraged potential customers to use spyware to monitor their spouses' devices without their knowledge. As part of the deal, Hinchey's company agreed to modify the app to alert device owners that their phones are being monitored.
Since the settlement, both PhoneSpector and Highster have been taken offline.
PhoneSpector's website stopped loading within weeks of the settlement. That domain now redirects to the Indonesian Lottery website. Hyster's website stopped loading after a few months.
The domains, servers, and backend infrastructure known to be used by PhoneSpector and Highster are also no longer online.
TechCrunch called phone numbers associated with PhoneSpector and Highster customer service and received an automated message saying the number had been disconnected. The office space Hinchey's company has listed in Port Jefferson Village, New York, is currently occupied by a construction company.
TechCrunch's public records review shows that nearly all of Hinchey's registered companies in New York and Florida remain active, but the companies have not filed paperwork with the state in years and have “expired” their renewals. is specified. Companies typically have to file documents every two years or face dissolution by state authorities.
Hinchey did not respond to multiple requests for comment from TechCrunch. Michael Weinstein, who represented Hinchey as part of the settlement, deferred comment to the New York State Attorney General's Office.
Delaney Kempner, communications director for the New York attorney general's office, did not respond to TechCrunch's questions about the settlement via email, including whether Hinchey's company paid the $410,000 penalty as agreed. Kempner will not agree to TechCrunch's request for a recorded call. In response to specific questions about the lawsuit, Kempner told TechCrunch via email that unspecified recent filings will answer some of our questions. “I hope you know how to find it :),” Kempner said.
PhoneSpector and Highster are the latest stalkerware apps to go offline in recent years following regulatory action.
In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission indicted phone monitoring app maker Retina-X, saying the company failed to verify that the app was being used for legitimate consent purposes and unknowingly siphoned sensitive phone data from phones. He accused them of not providing adequate protection. Device owners who have experienced several data breaches. Retina-X eventually shut down.
A year later, the FTC bans stalkerware maker SpyFone and its CEO Scott Zuckerman from the surveillance industry, also accusing the company of failing to protect data secretly collected from the phones of unwitting victims. criticized. A TechCrunch investigation later revealed that Zuckerman returned with a new stalkerware app called SpyTrac, but the app was shut down shortly after TechCrunch reached out to Zuckerman for comment.