• by August 29, 2005

Jealous lovers or spouses who take to cyber spying on a beloved, take heed. Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara, the creator of a software program that enables jealous lovers to spy on their partners' online activities, has been indicted for allegedly violating federal computer privacy laws.

The 25-year-old Perez-Melara was indicted on Friday on 35 counts of manufacturing, sending, and advertising "a surreptitious interception device and unauthorized access to protected computers," according to an Associated Press report today.

The so-called Loverspy program looked like a standard electronic greeting card with images of puppies and flowers. The card was sent as an e-mail message, but was capable of recording victims' e-mail messages and the Web sites they visited, according to prosecutors. The intelligence gathered from the cards was sent to computers run by Perez-Melara and then transmitted to customers.

"It was marketed as a way to catch a cheating lover," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Dembin told the AP.

Along with Perez-Melara, four people who purchased the $89 program were indicted on two counts each of illegal computer hacking. The penalty for such a crime is steep: Each count carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. If convicted, Perez-Melara could face up to 175 years in prison. Ouch.

Authorities say that as many as 1,000 copies of Loverspy may have been sold worldwide.