Ethics Case Study: Stealth Genie App

This essay examines the ethical and legal ramifications of the Stealth Genie surveillance app case, focusing on the arrest and subsequent fine of its CEO, Hammad Akbar. Akbar's app, designed to track individuals' locations and conversations, raised significant concerns about privacy and security. The essay analyzes the case through the lenses of deontology and consequentialism, contrasting Akbar's intentions (to reduce crime and aid in domestic situations) with the actual consequences (widespread privacy violations). The discussion highlights the conflict between the desire to provide such a service and the legal and ethical responsibilities of protecting individual privacy. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of considering both intended and unintended consequences when developing and deploying technology, particularly in areas impacting personal privacy and security. The references provided include sources discussing the case itself and relevant ethical frameworks.

1
Maker of smartphone surveillance app fined, avoids jail time
The unethical issue of surveillance app was highlighted when the chief executive of the company
of smartphone app, Hammad Akbar got arrested in the US and was presented in the US district
court for the district of Virginia. He was arrested as he broke the law of US and he was kept in
jail for ten days, he advertised the selling of Stealth Genie app. This app was developed in order
to snag the betrayed lovers by tracing their locations and hearing their phone calls. Akbar said
that he developed the surveillance app in order to reduce the crime rate. It is also the way the
parents will know where their children are. And this will also help the couples to snag their
spouses who are cheating on them. He also stated that he didn’t know he was breaking any law;
otherwise, he would not have done this unethical activity. Further, the court stated that in 2011,
thousands of people's activities were monitored and they were traced by unknown people. Akbar
didn't get imprisoned more than ten days and soon he was released and was fined to pay $US
500,000 because of his offense. The court also stated that Akbar will be taken to the airport in
order to leave the country by the agents of FBI immediately after he pay the amount which was
fined on him as he committed offense ("Stealth Genie Surveillance App Maker Avoids Jail,"
2016).
In terms of ITC professionalism, the above demonstrates the problem of security and privacy. As
anyone can track the location and can easily listen to the conversation of their near ones by
activating the microphone only with the help of Stealth Genie app. This has increased the
number of crimes as people were getting traced. But the intentions of Akbar were not wrong.
Therefore, with this discrepancy of attitudes, a battle of moral and legal was sued among the
entities and an argument was commenced in order to draw the moral lines because the issue was

2
related to security and privacy. In this case, Akbar made a decision of advertising the app in
order to help the people and took a stand for them, but the decision was morally wrong because
compromising with their security and privacy was not right and was treated as an offence. Apart
from the case, the protection of a person's privacy is always an important topic. From the moral
point of view, this case has inspired a debate related to issues where frequent requests have been
made that the law agencies could have some implications regarding the privacy and security of
people. There was another case where the whistleblower who was working with NSA
highlighted the matter of surveillance overreach. This led an outcry in the public about their
privacy and security, and they demanded that there should be a strict law in order to safeguard
them and privacy red lines should lay down for them (Kerven, D & Meso, P. (2016).
This case is seen as the "deontology” point of view. It is an area of psychology which is
interested in the roles and duties of an individual and he/she should act accordingly without
thinking about the results which may arise by their act (Balestrieri, P. (2009). The CEO of the
company didn’t think that what will happen with the security and privacy of people by
advertising Stealth Genie app. He thought that this could reduce the number of crimes but he
didn’t know that he is playing with the privacy and security of the people. The loophole which
was created unintentionally could make the usage more vulnerable and that could have exploited
badly as it was misused by people to some extent. The CEO of the company believed that his app
was legal, but it was not. If such vulnerabilities are not authorized by the government, then the
companies will keep on developing such surveillance app and other things in order to misuse the
privacy and security of the public. Form the case it has been analyzed that there is nothing like a
secure system. The CEO of the company, Akbar, got released in just 10 days after he was
arrested and was charged to pay a fine for his crime and was ordered to leave the country. It is

3
very important to note that even in relation to this case the legal loopholes have been utilized as a
productive strategy to implement the power of surveillance without even getting in any debates
and scrutiny of the act. The attempt of government makes possible to dodge the encryption.
In this case, the CEO of the company said that he developed the Stealth Genie app with another
person, but he was the only one who got caught in the offense of privacy and security of people.
If the government could have allowed the access to the Stealth Genie app, then it would give the
rise to terrorism. As the app made it very easy to track the people down. And we keep ourselves
at the place of the people who suffered the problem of security then we would understand the
importance of privacy and security.
One of the theory, consequentialism states that actions will be considered unethical or wrong
under any circumstances. It has been concluded from the case that the CEO of the company,
Akbar, advertised the selling of app with the positive intentions just to help the people around
even who are suffering domestic violence. But he didn't find that the development of such app is
legal in the US or not. He got arrested because thousands of people were victimized because
their present locations and conversations were traced by the unknown persons. The security and
privacy of the people were misused. And the CEO was arrested for 10 days and fined for the
offense and was forced to leave the country. The ethical theories have been used in order to
justify the problem in the case, and the theories helped in providing the appropriate solution to
the issue of security and privacy. The above-given issue was unethical and it doesn’t matter
whether Akbar was aware of the law.

4
REFERENCES
Anesthesia,18(2), 189-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijoa.2008.10.004
Balestrieri, P. (2009). Autonomy versus deontology. International Journal Of Obstetric
Kerven, D., & Meso, P. (2016). Adding a Student Research Component to an Information
Technology Ethics Course.
September 2016, from http://www.theinvestigators.co.nz/news/stealth-genie-surveillance-app-
makes-avoids-jail/
Stealth Genie Surveillance App Maker Avoids Jail. (2016). Thompson & Toresen. Retrieved 21