New Zealand - Suspicious spouses who use spy software to track phone calls and text messages on their cheating partner's cellphone may be breaking the law.
One website to offer the spyware service, Flexispy, allows people to download the software to a suspected adulterer's internet-capable phone for a fee. The virtually undetectable software tracks every text and phone call made from the phone and a summary can be viewed online. But New Zealand Institute of Professional Investigators president Trevor Morley says use of the software would amount to phone-tapping, which is illegal in this country.
"Even if it was not an offence under the... Crimes Act provisions to use that software, we suggest that its use would definitely be a breach of various provisions of the Privacy Act.
Assistant privacy commissioner Katrine Evans said there were cases where spying or surveillance by a parent of a child or within a couple did not breach privacy laws. (more)
The same is generally true in the United States of America.
