FTC orders company to quit surveillance app business

By FRANK BAJAK
AP Technology Writer

BOSTON (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission has for the first time banned a company making so-called stalkerware from continuing in the surveillance app business. Such software is used to surreptitiously track a cellphone user’s activities and location. Its use by violent domestic abusers has been well documented. Wednesday’s action applies to the marketer of SpyFone, Puerto Rico-based Support King LLC and its CEO, Scott Zuckerman. The FTC said stalkerware can secretly obtain unfettered access to someone’s smartphone, leading to serious harm. It said that while marketing SpyFone as a tool to monitor the activities of children and employees, Zuckerman neglected to prevent stalkers and domestic abusers from using it for surveillance.