Spying on your spouse? Think twice

Suspicious spouses who use spy software to track phone calls and text messages on their cheating partner's cellphone may be breaking the law.

The professional body for private investigators in New Zealand has questioned the legality of the software as reported in the Sunday Star-Times last week.

One website to offer the spyware service, Flexispy, allows people to download the software to a suspected adulterer's internet-capable phone for a fee. The virtually undetectable software tracks every text and phone call made from the phone and a summary can be viewed online.

But New Zealand Institute of Professional Investigators president Trevor Morley says use of the software would amount to phone-tapping, which is illegal in this country.

"Even if it was not an offence under the... Crimes Act provisions to use that software, we suggest that its use would definitely be a breach of various provisions of the Privacy Act.

"When people speak on the telephone, or exchange text messages, they usually do so in an absolute expectation of privacy between themselves and the sender [or] recipient."

Assistant privacy commissioner Katrine Evans said there were cases where spying or surveillance by a parent of a child or within a couple did not breach privacy laws.

But this type of software demonstrated the challenges technology raised for personal privacy, she said.

"The law in this area is evolving and the Law Commission's wide-ranging review of privacy law will help with that process."

Writer and researcher Warren Olson told the Star-Times he had used the software in his years as a private investigator overseas.

He had recently returned to New Zealand to write a second book, research and lecture on investigative techniques.

Olson is not licensed as a private investigator in New Zealand, Morley said.

- © Fairfax NZ News