Privacy Digest

Opinion: The stalker in your pocket: "For most of a century, nosey people, both professional and amateur, have used microphones and cameras to listen to and watch unsuspecting targets.

In recent years, the miniaturization of electronics has enabled these devices to be hidden. Extreme drops in price have made spy electronics available to anyone, even creepy stalker types. The only remaining challenge is placement: If anyone wants to capture the juicy tidbits, they've got to have a microphone or camera in the right place at the right time.

Enter the camera phone, a dream come true for not just spies but a new breed of 'cell phone stalkers.'

Camera phones contain all the necessary ingredients for completely invasive stalking: a microphone, camera, personal data on the user, location information, a chat and call history -- you name it. And victims carry them everywhere they go.

All that's missing is the software that lets stalkers take control. This new software, called snoopware, does just that. Snoopware -- both legal and illegal -- enables stalkers to secretly seize control of a phone's electronics to listen, watch and spy on their victims.

Welcome to the creepy new world of cell phone stalking.

Although cell phone stalking is new, there's already plenty of bad information, urban legends and false beliefs about it in circulation. I'm going to sort all this out for you, tell you about what's possible and how to protect yourself (it's easier than you think). But first, let's look at the first and most celebrated case to date of this new world of cell phone stalking."

(Read Original Article - Via computerworld .)