Boyfriend-Tracking App Blasted for Privacy Invasion
A Japanese smartphone application intended to let women track boyfriends or husbands has drawn protests as a form of spyware, forcing its publisher to make some crucial modifications.
Secretly installing the app “Kare Log” (boyfriend log) on a smartphone allows that phone to be tracked using GPS data as well as send information like remaining battery life and even call history, according to advertisements by Tokyo-based publisher Manuscript.
The app was released on Aug. 30 as a way to prevent cheating. By the end of the first day of release Manuscript had received around 30 protest e-mails as well as critical Twitter posts.
A few days later the app was labeled a “Potentially Unwanted Program” (PUP) by internet security firm McAfee. Kare Log gave no indication that it had been installed on the smartphone of the tracked user, making it like a “spyware program” that could be used illicitly, said McAfee.
On Aug. 31 Manuscript posted an apology on its site. It also updated the app to keep it from sending call histories and to always display an icon on the tracked smartphone to show it was being tracked. The updated version was not labeled a PUP by McAfee.
Personal location data has been tracked by corporations, parents and friends, and is perfectly legal as long as parents use the service to track their own minor children or both parties accept the arrangement knowingly. But software that allows tracking under other circumstances is illegal malware.
“The consent of a tracked individual is very important,” said the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. “There were problems with the way Kare Log was advertised.”
Manuscript told the Ministry it is “considering how to improve the application as a relationship support tool.” The Ministry says it is keeping an eye on developments.
Before publishing Kare Log Manuscript President Yoshinori Miura developed and edited books. The development of the Kare Log was his first foray into publishing digital content.
“We were still a largely unknown company, so I thought that we could grab attention by focusing on anti-cheating programs, but we went too far,” says Miura. “I didn’t think we get so much criticism.”