Are phone spying apps illegal?
<p>If someone sent a false picture message that contained a hidden app that allowed them to monitor calls,messages,photos etc... Are there any privacy laws being broken?This question applies only to the state of California.</p>

<p>Of course it is illegal. You are attempting to access somebody's data without their knowledge and certainly without their consent.</p>

<p>In the U.K. it is a crime under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Police and Justice Act 2006 and the Serious Crimes Act 2015.</p>

<p>The clue here should be in the term <strong>Serious Crimes</strong>.</p>

<p>The Human Rights Act, and indeed the ECHR, should never come into it unless it was state sponsored or corporate spying. And even then certain states have given themselves Orwellian totalitarian authority to do as they please.</p>

<p>I really doubt that from technical point of view such thing be possible, but anyway, yes it is illegal indeed. Right to privacy is a fundamental right in western legal system and violating it is a crime in most legal systems. For instance refer to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.</p>

hacking