Smartphones with pre-installed advanced tracking software are on sale in Britain to help employers to snoop on their staff.
The devices can be bought in bulk and sold on to unwitting customers, who would have no indication that their messages, location, app usage, call histories, photographs and emails were being monitored at all times. UK bosses can snoop on their staff with mobile phones packed with hidden software that secretly reveal your location, photos, emails and texts
Targeting employers who aim to “protect [their] company from inappropriate usage” and offering spouses “peace of mind”, the California-based company Spyfones promises customers “the most advanced mobile tracking software in the world”.
Customers are even being enticed with bulk-buy deals so they can keep tabs on all their staff.
“Everything will be hidden so there will be no trace” that a users’ phone is being monitored, a salesperson told the paper.
The company said Brits in particular are among the keenest customers snapping up the phones, which range in price from the Nexus 5 for £150 to the Samsung Galaxy S7 at £565.
The iPhone 5S model, at £225, has already sold out since Spyfones launched in June.
Frederike Kaltheuner from Privacy International said the pre-loaded tracking phones are “terrifying and deeply troubling”.
Bosses’ ability to read employee’s messages on company equipment was reigned in when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that staff should be given explicit warnings they are being monitored.