pcTattletale boss Bryan Fleming faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced later this year

The US government has secured a guilty plea from a stalkerware maker in federal court, marking just the second time in more than a decade that the US has managed to prosecute a consumer spyware vendor successfully. 

Bryan Fleming, creator of stalkerware called pcTattletale, pled [PDF] guilty in the Southern District of California federal court on Tuesday to one count of selling software designed with the primary purpose of intercepting communications, with an interstate commerce element, in violation of federal law. 

According to the plea agreement, Fleming sold the stalkerware from Michigan. In at least one instance, it was purchased by a buyer in the Southern District of California, allowing the case to be filed there. The plea agreement states that Fleming started advertising pcTattletale in 2017 "to persons wanting to spy on spouses or partners without their knowledge." 

Like other forms of stalkerware, which are essentially consumer-grade spyware like ...