Parenting or Spying?? (Old trend but newer technology)

PARENTS are installing hidden spyware on their children's phones to secretly track their movements, read their text messages and look through their photos
The latest smart phone technology, which can be downloaded online, allows worried parents to keep tabs on their children and unlike previous iPhone or Android programs sold in official app stores, such as Family Tracker, it remains completely hidden.
The latest programs to hit the market, Spyera Software and Mobile Spy, offer stealth GPS tracking and the abilities to read text messages, read emails and view photos
Spyera even promises to turn the phone into a "remote bugging device" so parents can listen to conversations wherever the phone is left.
"I find it quite appalling, to be honest, that parents would be thinking of using surreptitious technology," Mr Burdon, lecturer in University of Queensland School of Law, said.

"These technologies are law enforcement surveillance tools, and they really shouldn't, at least to my mind, be used for parenting purposes.

"What they're essentially doing is creating a relationship of mistrust between a parent and a child.

"It's creating an environment in which surveillance is a normal part of life; children need space to experiment and be themselves."
Mr Burdon said Queensland parents could face criminal charges for using the programs but the legislation was originally designed to set boundaries for law enforcement officials, not family relationships.