Are You Being 'Snooped'?

Electronic privacy advocates and law enforcement are growing more worried by the availability of computer technology known as "snoopware," which could be used by criminals to monitor a person's computer usage.

The devices in question could allow someone to use the Internet to see the screen you see, log your keystrokes and even activate your computer's Webcam, The New York Times reports.

That means someone you don't know could find out what you last typed and see what you are wearing today.

"Anybody who routinely uses a computer that isn't their own ought to be thinking, 'Who's looking over my shoulder?'" Ross Stapleton-Gray, a computer consultant, told The Times.

According to The Times, snoopware is different from spyware, which allows companies to monitor your web browsing and send pop-up ads. Snoopware can be installed remotely, and that makes it troubling to privacy advocates.

"I don't think there's any question that they are violating the federal law," the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Marc Rotenberg told The Times.

At least one of the products has attracted law enforcement attention. An FBI official tells the Times that the bureau is investigating LoverSpy, which claims to let owners "Spy on anyone by sending them an e-mail greeting card!" Under federal wiretap laws it could be illegal even to advertise illegal surveillance products.

More than a dozen snoopware products are on the market, the newspaper reports.

Snoopware manufacturers claim they are used legally by parents who want to make sure their children are protected online, and companies wishing to monitor employees. Buyers typically must acknowledge a disclaimer in which they promise to use the technology in a legal fashion.

The people who make snoopware admit it can be used illegally, but stress it has legitimate purposes as well. "A car can run somebody over. That doesn't mean you design a car to run over somebody," said one manufacturer.

Criminals are indeed making use of the new computing power. A New York man pleaded guilty to putting monitoring software on computers at Kinko's. A college student in Boston is charged with using a keystroke-logging program to steal an investment account password to facilitate a stock scam. Incidents have also been logged in Arizona, Texas, Florida and California, the Times reports.

For some the concern is not criminals, but workplace monitoring. Some workers' rights advocates believe it is corporate America that has been emerging as the clearest embodiment of Big Brother - the all-seeing, all-knowing entity in George Orwell's novel "1984."

With technology already available or on its way, corporations can block your e-mail from particular senders, stop you from printing documents deemed too sensitive and record instant-messaging conversations among workers.

Those developing the technology for workplace monitoring say they are merely letting companies exercise their right to monitor use of their computers and networks.

Companies need more control to improve computer security and block junk e-mail, and such industries as financial services and health care face federal requirements to record communications, advocates of the technology say.

A 1986 federal law restricts employers from deliberately listening to personal telephone calls at work. Some states have passed laws requiring employers to notify employees that their e-mail may be monitored. But there's little else, critics say. That means it's up to employers to decide how far is too far.

"Depending upon one's philosophy about privacy there can be some legitimate uses of this technology," says CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid. "Parents certainly have the right to monitor their children's internet activity and employers, in some cases, have the right to keep track of how company computers are being used."

"If you are going to use the technology in this way, it's a good idea to inform people that they are being monitored," Magid continued. "It is certainly not legitimate to plant keyboard logging software on other people's computers without their knowledge and consent or to secretly track people's use of computers in public places."