Spyware firm SpectorSoft Corp. which makes eBlaster, is hardly a stranger to controversy. But the new e-mail monitoring technology, which company president Doug Fowler described as “almost a wiretap,” is sure to stir even more.

It’s common for office workers to keep personal matters out of corporate e-mail; many set up free Web-based e-mail accounts at Hotmail or Yahoo to help separate work and private affairs. But eBlaster 3.0, released Wednesday by SpectorSoft, makes it easy for employers or other interested voyeurs to read all e-mail going in and out of almost any kind of e-mail account.

“What our customers have asked for more than anything is the ability to capture e-mails, specifically Web-based e-mails like Hotmail,” Fowler said. “We knew that’s what our people wanted.”

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