Michigan man learns the hard way that “catch a cheater” spyware apps aren’t legal

Bryan Fleming helped create pcTattletale in 2002, a spyware tool that could monitor phone and computer usage and upload videos to a server for subscribers to view. The product’s marketing materials at times claimed it could be used to catch a “cheating spouse,” with instructions to access a target’s phone by knowing the passcode and being on the device for about five minutes, often while the target slept.

Fleming ran the business from his northern Detroit suburb and, despite warnings that people used the software to spy without consent, assisted customers with technical support; around 1,200 subscriptions a year at prices between £80 and £240 were reportedly sold. Federal investigators in California opened a stalkerware probe in the same period, leading to a late‑2022 search warrant at Fleming’s Bruce Township home.

In California this week, Fleming pled guilty to one count for selling a product primarily useful for surreptitious interception and was released on his own recognizance while awaiting sentencing; this marks one piece of stalkerware exiting the market, though many others remain. The article was published on 8 January 2026.