"It makes life easy for me as an investigator. It saves me hours of time, which obviously means I have more time to go out and catch offenders," he said. The software also documents text messages and other data that can be used in court, he said. "Now all I have to do is go into the account and pull everything out that was done between that sex offender and me."
Programs such as My Mobile Watchdog and Mobile Spy are becoming increasingly popular with parents as more school-age children are carrying cell phones.
Parents say the services help them protect their kids against predators and also reduce "sexting," the growing practice of using mobile phones to share sexually explicit text messages and pictures. In 2008, Jessica Logan, a Cincinnati, Ohio, teen, hanged herself after her nude photo, meant for her boyfriend, was sent to teenagers at several high schools, exposing her to ridicule and taunts.
The monitoring programs work like this: Once a child's phone is equipped with the software, the parent or law enforcement officer creates a list of contacts -- close relatives, trusted friends -- who are authorized to communicate with the minor's phone.
An online file, accessed by the parent, stores all activity related to the child's phone, including text messages and shared photos. Any unauthorized number that contacts the child's phone gets flagged, and the parent or guardian receives a real-time text message alerting them to the infraction.
Parents pay a monthly fee -- about $10 -- for the service, which only works on so-called "smart phones" with Web access. My Mobile Watchdog also will alert parents if their child has removed the software from their phone.
