Stalkerware is legal in most states and used in 70%+ of DV cases

The UK charity Refuge reports that over 70% of domestic violence cases it supports involve technology-facilitated abuse. Commercially available stalkerware apps — which silently record a victim's location, messages, photos, calls, and camera/microphone — are legal to sell in most US states and can be installed on a partner's phone in under five minutes. Australia has documented a 245% increase in GPS tracking of DV victims and a 183% increase in surveillance camera abuse over five years. In the US, stalkerware app detections increased by over 200% in a three-year period (per Avast). For survivors, this means that even after physically leaving, the abuser knows their real-time location, reads their messages to advocates and lawyers, and can monitor safety planning in real time — making escape plans actively dangerous. Domestic violence hotline calls and shelter addresses discovered through stalkerware put entire shelter populations at risk. This persists because stalkerware companies market their products as 'parental monitoring' or 'employee tracking' tools, federal wiretapping laws (ECPA) were written before smartphones existed and require proving the abuser installed the software, and most DV advocates lack the technical training to detect and safely remove stalkerware without alerting the abuser.