Is It Ethical To Spy On Cell Phones?

About two decades ago the idea of spying on others people was only something associated with a secret agent like James Bond. You probably admired all those mythical stunning cutting edge gadgets like miniature cameras or tiny bugs that enabled the movie protagonist  to punish bad guys which led to the triumph of good over evil. Those were the times when only the chosen few could fly into space. Now with space flight available to virtually anyone who can pay for it, we are proceeding into the future with gigantic leaps.
One more enormous leap forward was the launch of the smartphone. At last we got the technological solution that provided us with high-speed Internet access and apps and functionality that were incredibly useful! Smartphones enjoy huge popularity these days - last year alone smartphone sales reached 500 million. They are viewed as a kind of a status symbol so even those conservative people who would never buy anything more complex than an electric kettle wouldn’t appear in public without their smartphone.

Mobile Spies Arrive
Among all the smartphone apps software that let users remotely spy on someone’s cell phone and even eavesdrop has been the most disputatious to date.There have been initiatives to ban cell phone spy software sales and most smartphone technology websites don’t even mention the subject. Putting it mildly, not many people embrace the idea of their cell phone being secretly monitored by means of this software.

Is Cell Phone Spy Ethical?
For the majority of people the following question remains unsettled - is it ethical to use cell phone software – after all it’s violation of privacy. Let’s think about the ethics of this kind of applications. Some people claim froth at the mouth that it should not be legal because it lets you snoop but if you have nothing to hide why does it bother you that people can spy on your cell phone?

Cheated Husband Viewpoint

Let’s look at this from the position of a man who wants to install this software on his wife’s cell phone because he thinks she is unfaithful to him, or what is worse he suspects she wants to kill him and get the insurance. Can the use of cell phone software be viewed as unethical in this case? Certainly not – he’s just trying to protect his own interests.



Employers' Viewpoint 


And what can we say about employers who cannot accept the  fact that 75% of their employees are thieves which cost US companies more than $50 billion annually. Could such employers be blamed for using spy software on the cellphone of an employee to prevent theft? Surely not.








Unfortunately, there are people who see no tragedy in overstepping the bounds of ethical norms, which is why this type of software is often abused. Hopefully, they tend to be in the minority.