The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its decision prohibiting SpyFone and its chief executive officer CEO Scott Zuckerman from the surveillance business.
The FTC called SpyFone (currently d/b/a Support King LLC) a stalkerware app company that threatens the safety and security of consumers. The company is based in Puerto Rico.
The ban comes after Support King or SpyFone, and Zuckerman agreed to settle the FTC complaint alleging that they violated federal laws that protect consumers from deceptive and unfair business practices.
In addition to the prohibition from the surveillance business, the Commission ordered the stalkerware app company and its CEO to delete device owners’ personal information that they collected illegally. The Commission also ordered them to inform users that the app had been secretly installed in their devices.
FTC’s allegations against SpyFone, Zuckerman
The Commission alleged that the defendants “secretly harvested and shared data on people’s physical movements, phone use, and online activities through a hidden device hack.”