Law Commons^™

Spying Inc., Danielle Keats Citron

Washington and Lee Law Review

The latest spying craze is the “stalking app.” Once installed on someone’s cell phone, the stalking app can provide continuous access to the phone owner’s calls, texts, snapchats, photos, calendar updates, and movements. Stalking apps destroy the privacy and confidentiality of cell phone activities. Domestic abusers and stalkers frequently turn to stalking apps because they are undetectable even to sophisticated phone owners.

Business is booming for stalking app providers, even though their entire enterprise is arguably illegal. Federal and state wiretapping laws ban the manufacture, sale, or advertisement of devices knowing their design makes them primarily useful for the surreptitious …