Police departments in multiple states have been gifting free copies of spyware programs to parents so they can creep on their children. But in addition to being a questionable use of police resources, the programs also involve some pretty serious security concerns, and amount to a publicly-funded way to easily spy on your ex-girlfriend if you are so inclined.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) conducted a thorough analysis of the spyware program, “ComputerCOP,” and discovered a flaw in the system that could leave users vulnerable to online predators and identity thieves:
After the EFF published their findings, Wired reported, the San Diego District Attorney’s office sent out a warning to the parents who took their spyware about the security loophole.
But users could also turn the keylogging program against other adults, and use it to spy on virtually anyone.
The author of the EFF report, Dave Maass, mulled over just a few of the potential bonus uses for a program like this: “Law enforcement agencies are passing around what amounts to a spying tool that could easily be abused by people who want to snoop on spouses, roommates, or co-workers.”
ComputerCOP also just doesn’t really work. EFF’s testing produced “a giant haystack of false positives” in some instances, while the program missed loads of results for keywords like “drugs” in others.
According to EFF, law enforcement agencies have been buying these programs by the fistful, usually 1,000 and 5,000 at a time, while the Highlands County Sheriff in Florida bought 10,000 copies for $42,000—enough for every family in their entire county.
To top it all off, EFF found evidence of some extremely deceptive marketing on the part of ComputerCOP. ComputerCOP admitted to altering a letter from the Treasury Department they used to promote their program, and claim they are endorsed by the ACLU. EFF has not yet tracked down the unaltered Treasury Department “endorsement”, and multiple branches of the ACLU told EFF they would not endorse the program.
All of which leaves one to wonder why police departments are propping up a shady company whose product barely works.
You can watch a creepy video of police departments advertising ComputerCOP on local TV stations via EFF below:
(h/t Wired)
