Got a great idea? You might want to make sure it doesn’t violate any federal laws before ubiquitously marketing it. LoverSpy’s creator Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara, 25, learned that one the hard way, now facing up to 175 years in jail.
Perez-Melara created a spyware application that allowed jealous and/or suspicious lovers to monitor everything on their sneaky partner’s computer. For just $89, the virus would be sent via email under the guise of an e-card, complete with
“puppies and flowers.”
Once opened, the application silently installed itself and monitored and recorded all email, Web sites visited, instant messaging communication, passwords, files and keystrokes, and sent them to LoverSpy’s home base, operated by Perez-Merala. That information was then transmitted back to LoverSpy’s clients.
Active since at least 2003, as this
blog would indicate (the LoverSpy site doesn’t work anymore), the service was marketed as a way to catch a cheating lover.
“Through our service, you compose and send your lover a normal-looking ‘Greeting Card’ saying ‘I Love you’ or a similar message. Because the e-mail appears to be a regular greeting card, the recipient will open the e-card and LoverSpy will be automatically and silently installed!
"The program begins monitoring them IMMEDIATELY, there is no delay. It records and sends you all e-mails they view, including Hotmail, Yahoo, and Outlook emails.”
Oh, that’s just dirty. The feds thought so too, apparently. As many 1,000 copies were sold worldwide before the authorities got wise to it and indicted Perez-Melara on 35 counts of manufacturing, sending and advertising a surreptitious interception device and unauthorized access to protected computers. If convicted, the spyware producer will be developing ways to look over his own shoulder for the next 175 years.
Four other people, all customers, each have been indicted on two counts of illegal computer hacking. The charges carry up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.