A Japanese firm that marketed a smartphone application to girlfriends and wives who wanted to keep an eye on their philandering partners has had to tone down the service after complaints that it was effectively spying on people.

據(jù)英國《每日電訊報》10月17日報道，一家日本公司銷售了一款智能手機應用軟件，可以讓女友和太太們密切關注她們的另一半，這款軟件可以對人進行有效監(jiān)控，但最近在遭到許多投訴后這家公司不得不改善了這項服務。

Tokyo-based Manuscript released on Sunday a new version of the "Kare Log" – meaning "boyfriend log" – after the original application attracted hundreds of complaints from people who discovered it had been surreptitiously installed on their phones, while software security firm McAfee identified the app as a "Potentially Unwanted Programme".

總部位于東京的Manuscript公司上周日發(fā)布了新版的“Kare Log”手機應用——即“男友追蹤器”——之前的版本收到了數(shù)以百計的投訴，因為人們發(fā)現(xiàn)當她們把這款應用悄悄裝入手機時，防毒安全軟件邁克菲會認定它為“潛在的不必要程序”。

Japan's communications ministry has even waded into the debate on privacy, saying in a statement that "The consent of a tracked individual is very important. There were problems with the way that Kare Log was advertised."

日本通訊部門甚至就隱私問題展開了激烈的討論，在一份報告中聲言“追蹤個體的行動是否得到同意非常重要。‘Kare Log’的宣傳方式是有問題的。”

First launched on August 30, the application could be installed into a smartphone and a computer could then be used to monitor the whereabouts of the device – and, presumably, the owner, through its GPS data.

這款應用軟件于8月30日首次推出，可以安裝在智能手機上，通過電腦遠程監(jiān)控該設備的所在地——由此根據(jù)GPS數(shù)據(jù)來推測手機主人的下落。

The basic charge was Y525 (￡4.31) a month, which provided the location of the phone and the amount of energy left in the phone's battery. For the ￡15.83 "platinum plan," however, the member would be able to access the list of all the calls that had been made from the phone, the dates, times and durations, as well as other applications that had been installed.

這一應用的基本費用是每月525日元（約合4.31英鎊），可以提供手機的位置以及電池的剩余電量。如果選擇每月付費15.83英鎊的“鉑金計劃”，用戶將可查詢所有呼出電話的日期、時間和通話時長，還能查詢該手機已經(jīng)安裝的其他應用軟件。

Critically, the application did not show an icon on the screen when it was being utilised, meaning that the owner of the smartphone might not even realise that it had been installed.

關鍵在于，這款應用在使用時不會在屏幕上顯示出圖標，這意味著智能手機的持有者甚至可能永遠不會發(fā)現(xiàn)它已經(jīng)被安裝在手機里了。

"The initial version of the service was downloaded more than 24,000 times in 10 weeks," Yoshinori Miura, president of Manuscript, told. "The new version has already been snapped up 500 times in less than 24 hours," he said.

“這一手機應用的第一版在十個星期內(nèi)被下載超過24000次，”Manuscript公司的總裁三浦義德告訴記者，“新版在不到24小時內(nèi)也已經(jīng)被搶訂500次。”

"We had around 60 complaints by email but I cannot count how many phone calls we took from people who were unhappy that it had been installed on their phones," Miura admitted, adding that it had also been criticised in online forums.

“我們收到了大約60封投訴的電子郵件，接到的抱怨電話不計其數(shù)，人們對自己的手機中被安裝了這種應用感到非常不滿”，三浦承認，這一應用在網(wǎng)上也遭到了批評。

"The first version was mainly targeted at women who wanted to know where there husband was," said Miura. "But the new version requires a password to access the information and we see it as a way in which couples can share information with each other."

“我們收到了大約60封投訴的電子郵件，接到的抱怨電話不計其數(shù)，人們對自己的手機中被安裝了這種應用感到非常不滿”，三浦承認，這一應用在網(wǎng)上也遭到了批評。

The new service is described as a "location service for lovers," the company said.

該公司宣稱，新版服務被稱為“情侶定位服務”。