Spying on Partner's Email ILLEGAL

Spying on lover's e-mail? Monitoring may be illegal
Austin police have charged two recently with activity.

By Tony Plohetski

Shawn Macleod wanted to know where his estranged wife was going on the Internet and what she was writing in e-mails, investigators said, so he secretly installed a program called SpyRecon on her computer that sent him electronic logs with the sites she had visited and messages she had sent.

His spying resulted in a four-year prison sentence.

Software programs created to monitor computer activity have grown in popularity in recent years as parents have sought ways to prevent children from accessing adult Web sites or e-mailing possible predators and as businesses have tried to curtail the time employees spend on the Internet when they are at work.

Others, too, have found a use for the software: Scorned lovers can track where their spouses or partners go online, whom they are e-mailing and what they are saying — all possibly in violation of the law.

Austin police considered Macleod's actions tantamount to illegal wiretapping and charged him with unlawful interception of electronic communication, a second-degree felony that can carry a 20-year sentence. Macleod pleaded guilty in May.

"It's pretty alarming," said Macleod's attorney, Johnny Urrutia.

Urrutia said he would be surprised if his client knew that what he was doing was against the law.

Doug Fowler, president of SpectorSoft Corp., which manufactures an Internet monitoring program called eBlaster, said law enforcement agencies nationwide have in recent months sought company records during criminal investigations, hoping the documents would show who installed the software on victims' computers.

In New York this year, a sheriff's deputy was found guilty of eavesdropping after investigators said he spied on the computer activity of a neighbor he thought posed a threat to young girls in their neighborhood.

The deputy was sentenced to five years of probation.

In California, a man was indicted on federal charges in 2005, accused of manufacturing, advertising and sending a program called Lovespy.

In that case, victims received an electronic greeting card that, when opened, would record e-mail messages and the Web sites they visited.

Austin police in recent months have charged two men, including Macleod, with the crime. The second case, filed last month, is pending.

Detective Darin Webster, who works in the department's high-tech crime division, said investigators also have looked into several other cases that didn't result in charges because the evidence had been destroyed or they couldn't conclusively determine who had installed the spyware.

"The problem itself isn't the software," Webster said. "The problem is how the software is being used. ... And in the cases I've seen, there are warnings on there that it may be against the law. In Texas, it is."

State law says it is illegal to intentionally intercept spoken or electronic communication.

The law grants some exceptions, such as to switchboard operators who might hear part of a conversation while doing their job.

The law doesn't address certain questions about computer spyware, such as whether it is legal to install the equipment on a jointly owned computer without the consent of the second owner.

Employers typically have workers sign waivers acknowledging that they know the company computers are monitored.

Parents, as guardians of their minor children, are allowed to monitor their children's activities.

According to court records, Macleod's estranged wife, Kristy, reported to police in August 2005 that she suspected he was monitoring her computer use.

A detective using a fake name sent Kristy Macleod an e-mail offering to buy the couple's pool table.

A few days later, Shawn Macleod confronted Kristy Macleod about the e-mail, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Detectives searched the computer and found SpyRecon software on it, according to the affidavit.

Kristy Macleod could not be reached for comment. Company officials for SpyRecon did not respond to an interview request.

In an online advertisement, the company asks, "Have you ever needed to secretly read the e-mail of your child or spouse?"

In the second case Austin police filed, investigators said Alexis Lugo, 29, installed eBlaster software on his ex-girlfriend's computer.

An affidavit in that case said Kara Winebright called Austin police and reported that she thought Lugo had hacked into her computer and changed the password on some of her accounts.

Winebright said she had broken up with Lugo and later had discovered some unusual activity on her account with eHarmony, a dating Web site. She checked her other online accounts and found similar problems.

Police searched her computer and found the eBlaster software.

Ordinary anti-spy software might not detect such programs, but checking to see which programs and files have been downloaded to hard drives should reveal them, said Fowler, the manufacturer of eBlaster.

Fowler said his company intended for the software to be used only by parents or businesses, not by spying spouses or partners. The company marketed the product that way several years ago but stopped, he said.

"We ultimately decided that it wasn't a market we wanted to participate in," Fowler said. "There are certainly those who buy the software for this kind of thing. But we don't encourage it."

SOURCE

Online Impersonation? Get Arrested.

(Texas, U.S.) A 34-year-old Odessa man was charged with online harassment after reportedly pretending to be his ex-girlfriend and asking for sex.

Kevin Wade Johnson, 12055 W. Edith St., remained in custody Thursday on a $15,000 bond.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Johnson’s ex-girlfriend started getting calls from people wanting to meet her to have sex. One of them told her he’d gotten her number off of her profile at the mobile gaming community MocoSpace, and when she searched for her name, the profiles “1hottnurse4u” and “nastynurse4u” came up, which included her personal and work phone numbers, as well as photos of her, the affidavit stated.

The woman suspected that Johnson had been the one to create the profiles because they were ones she knew he had, the affidavit stated.

After making the report Aug. 9, Odessa police got a search warrant Aug. 30 for MocoSpace’s data and found that the phone number connected with the profiles belonged to Johnson, the affidavit stated. Sept. 14, a third profile “hotnurse4u” was created, again with the woman’s information and photos of her, the affidavit stated. Oct. 6, a grand jury subpoena was served to MocoSpace for the third account, and it, too, was connected with Johnson’s number. Sprint-Nextel confirmed Johnson as the account holder for the number Oct. 7, the affidavit stated.

The arrest warrant was signed Oct. 12, and Johnson was arrested Monday on the third-degree felony charge.

original article found here

Arrested for Cyberstalking His Ex

by Bob Byrne

(Pennsylvania, USA) Police have charged Anthony Ciccarone with three counts related to alleged cyberstalking after an investigation spurred by complaints from his ex-wife.

According to police, the woman complained to police, alleging that her daily activities were being monitored. While investigating the complaints police say they uncovered evidence that the suspect had "made comments to others that he had been monitoring his ex-wife's activities."

Police say they had the ex-wife's computer examined for evidence and uncovered a "Web Watcher" program that works by recording all activities on a computer without the user being aware that it is there. According to a Tredyffrin Police news release the Web Watcher program also logs every key stroke, capturing emails and internet activities.

The investigation led police to get a search warrant and an arrest warrant for Anthony Ciccarone. He was arrested last week. A $7,500 cash bail was set in the case, which the defendant posted.

original article here

Man Threatens Ex via Internet

(Hawaii, U.S.A.) An Internet conversation between a 27-year-old woman and her 37-year-old ex-boyfriend escalated into threats and harassment, police said.

The woman left her ex-boyfriend, who is the father of her two children, and moved into her parents' house with her children on Thursday, police said.

On Friday, the woman began chatting with her ex-boyfriend, a Waipahu man, on a social networking site, but the chat escalated when the man allegedly threatened her, her children and family members.

The woman filed a report with another law enforcement agency and on Saturday, Honolulu police said the suspect called the woman at 4:45 in the morning and harassed her.

Police located the suspect at about 8:30 a.m. and arrested him in Waimanalo for outstanding warrants. While he was being processed, police found the other cases and arrested him for terroristic threatening and harassment. He was charged and cited for terroristic threatening in the second degree and harassment on held on $2,000 bail.

original article here

Revenge -- Campaign of Hatred

When Elvis Kovacic discovered his girlfriend was still friends with a former boyfriend he had never met, the 30-year-old accountant set out to destroy the man's reputation in an anonymous hate campaign of phone threats, pamphlet letterbox drops and emails.

His target, Richard Gazzard, was a happily engaged co-director of Prestige Auto Traders in Rozelle. Kovacic falsely accused him of being a rapist and local police of covering up the crime.

The extraordinary tale of one man's blind jealousy was detailed by police when Kovacic stood trial in Central Local Court.

Prosecutor Sergeant Brad Scanlan told the magistrate, Gail Madgwick, that Kovacic, of Chiswick, could not handle the thought his now former girlfriend, Meje Tran, had kept in touch with Gazzard, who she had once dated.

Kovacic waged his hate campaign between 2004 and early 2006, distributing pamphlets with Mr Gazzard's photo under the heading "Buyer Beware" to letterboxes in the inner west.

His campaign came unstuck in an investigation that involved police retracing phone records and internet sites to Kovacic's home and work computers.

Kovacic pleaded not guilty to the charges, for which he faces up to five years' jail and fines of up to $5,500. But last Thursday Ms Madgwick found Kovacic guilty of two charges: using a carriage service to menace, harass and offend, and stalking with intent to cause fear, physical and mental harm.

In evidence at his trial last April, Sergeant Scanlan said the hate campaign began in April 2004, when Mr Gazzard received two anonymous calls from a man that were later traced to the home of Kovacic's father.

The caller told Mr Gazzard "you are f---ing dead. I know where you live" and later "I know where you work". By the end of the year, Kovacic had produced the first of three pamphlets.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Arrested for Cyberstalking

BOULDER, Colorado -- Boulder police have arrested a 37-year-old man and accused him of cyber-stalking his ex-girlfriend by breaking into her apartment, installing listening devices and placing spyware on her computer, police said Monday.

Christopher Spiewak also is accused of sending the woman threatening e-mails, police said.

Spiewak was arrested Friday and booked on charges of domestic-violence related stalking, second-degree burglary, computer crimes and repeated harassment, police said.

original article here

Louisana Man Charged with Cyberstalking & Transmission of Nudity

A number of our cyberpaths have done this - and their victims reported it yet LAW ENFORCEMENT DID NOTHING! Why is that? - EOPC

By Vickie Welborn

A Louisiana, USA man is accused of sending obscene photographs of himself and text messages with "language of a sexual nature" to two Minden women.

A weeklong investigation resulted in Webster sheriff's investigators arresting James Lee Adkins, 23, on Thursday night on one count each of cyberstalking, obscenity and telephone harassment.

On Friday, Minden police added an obscenity charge over a separate incident in which Adkins is suspected of sending inappropriate photos and text messages with "language of a sexual nature to the female without her consent or request," according to a sheriff's office news release.

Sheriff's investigators zeroed in on Adkins after completing a forensic search. "The victim provided her cell phone to me for examination after she received unwanted nude photographs of a man," sheriff's Sgt. Dustin Reynolds says in the release.

Adkins denied sending the photographs but ultimately admitted doing so after being shown his face mistakenly captured in a reflection in one of the photos, authorities said.

Comments he made while being interviewed by sheriff's investigators alerted authorities to the most recent incident, in which Adkins is accused of sending nude photographs of himself to another woman, Reynolds said.

"The same phone information was captured from a different complainant's cellular device through a forensic search that our office had recently conducted for the Minden Police Department," Reynolds said. "It also involved nude photographs that were sent to a different young woman.

Cyberstalking involves the unsolicited transmission of indecent material to anyone via a technological device. While many "sexting" cases involve underage victims, this one is a reminder that even adults can get into trouble by sending sexually explicit texts, the news release states.

"It's just never, ever a good idea to send indecent messages or photos," Reynolds said. "Once it's out there, you can never get it back. Someone somewhere will always have a copy."

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Costume Designer Charged with Cyberstalking

By Donita Naylor and Tatiana Pina

The problem started with a poorly made SpongeBob costume, and ended with a cyberstalking arrest.

In between, Tracy Sisson says, were two years of harassment: prank calls, hangups, telemarketing calls and phony applications, as many as 60 a day.

In 2001, Sisson, 33, of Cranston, Rhode Island (U.S.) ordered the character costume, called a Yellow Cheese to avoid copyright infringement, and put $500 down on a costume resembling Bob the Builder, for her party rental business. But she was not happy with the quality of the Yellow Cheese, she said in an interview Wednesday, because of unsightly glue drips. When she called Bruna Puppets and Costumes, of Providence, to cancel the builder costume, owner Ann Bruno refused to return her deposit.

Sisson and her husband, Keith, own Absolute Fun Party Rentals and the Absolute Fun Party Center, in Cranston. She and Bruno, 59, met again in 2006 when Sisson was arranging mortgages at Able Financial Services and Bruno got a job there. Sisson told her boss that she felt uncomfortable working with Bruno and planned to leave. Bruno was laid off, she said.

Later that year, around September, Sisson told the police she began getting mysterious phone calls and Internet messages from companies indicating she had filled out applications. She had not. Her phone was ringing as she came home from the hospital with her third son. “I was walking in the door with my brand-new baby, and someone was calling for my husband.” It was a female voice, she said, and the caller hung up.

Was her husband having an affair while she was giving birth?

On Monday, the police charged Bruno, of West Warwick, with cyberstalking, a misdemeanor. She was issued a summons to appear at District Court, Warwick, on April 14.

Earlier that day, Sisson called the police from the Cranston Public Library, saying she recognized a woman at the computers who might be involved. Bruno wasn’t aware that two officers were standing behind her, a police report said. They watched as she typed Sisson’s name and business address onto an application.

Bruno told the police she was the victim, that she had received harassing phone calls and that applications were filled out in her name.

She said that Sisson had gotten her fired from her job.

Sisson’s business, operating a party center and renting items for home parties, started seven years ago. It’s a family operation, she said. Nieces and nephews appear as characters in costumes, her sister does face painting and temporary tattoos and her husband delivers water slides, moon-bouncers, tables, chairs and tents.

Bruno, who started designing fashions as a student at Cranston High School East, has a shop in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Providence. The shelves are lined with costume heads of bunnies, Mickey Mouse-like creatures and characters that Bruno has made, along with wigs, vinyl go-go boots and costumes she has sewn, such as a Southern belle. Bruno refused to comment.

Tracy Sisson said she started asking callers how they got her number and was told she or her husband had filled out cards at a home show or business expo. Neither had attended those shows, she said.

ARTICLE HERE

Typical - the cyberharasser plays VICTIM! Sounds like Angela Buer, Nathan Thomas, Dan Jacoby, Yidwithlid, Ed Hicks...

Another Cyberstalker - Arrested!

A Fairfield, Illinois man is accused of creating a fake Myspace page and sending threatening messages online.

21 year-old Justin Savage faces felony charges of cyber-stalking, identity theft, and electronic harassment of a witness.

Officers say Justin Savage was involved in a minor fight last year. They believe he wanted to scare a witness to that crime, so she would withdraw her police statement.

They say Savage created a Myspace profile that looked exactly like the one belonging to a former friend -- a man who goes by the nickname 'Sabetya.'

"He created this duplicate account because he knew somehow that the victim was afraid of this friend of his" says Wayne County Detective Jonah Kinsolving.

Kinsolving says Savage was afraid of being prosecuted for a fight he'd been involved in, so he used the fake site to make online threats to a witness, and they became very serious.

"He was offering to pay anyone $7000 to have her killed, and her family killed. He told her that he'd been on her property, seen her bedroom, and knew what time she goes to bed" says Kinsolving.

Kinsolving says the victim was terrified, wondering why a man named Sabetya -- who'd she never met -- wanted to hurt her.

The case took months to sort out.

"You can't just send out a blanket subpoena saying 'I want this Myspace account.' You have to say 'I want this Myspace account on this day, at this specific time.'

After a lengthy investigation, Kinsolving says he was able to determine that Justin Savage was pretending to be Sabetya, and was the person making the threats.

What Savage may not have realized is that his online harassment is a class 3 felony.

TO CHECK CYBERSTALKING LAWS BY STATE IN THE U.S. -- CLICK HERE

TO CHECK CYBERSTALKING LAWS IN CANADA - CLICK HERE

"I don't think a lot of people realize it is a crime, but more people will get in trouble for it" says Kinsolving. "Hopefully, they'll start to watch what they type."

Justin Savage is free on bond. His first court appearance is set for March 12th.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE