I'm not convinced that the 12 hour side switch limit has much to do with preventing spying, I think the idea is more to prevent wild swings in numbers between the 3 sides. As it is now you see one side being outnumbered by the other two but also those numbers changing over the course of the day, the key I believe is that those changes aren't radical and sudden.
When we had the 1 hour rule I got a taste of side switching freedom and I liked it. Now that we're back to the 12 hour rule under the single arena it's really cramping my style of being able to bounce around and find the biggest and most fun fights of the night as well as fly with some friends that I've made on the two other countries. I just have to accept that what I like to do may not be in the best interest of the community or game as a whole.
I proposed what I thought was a perfectly reasonable solution to the problem a while back, I never heard anything from HTC on it so I'm just assuming that it's on the "to-do" list and they will get to it eventually.
My brilliant idea was just to allow ME to switch whenever I want because I know I won't upset the balance or do any spy related shenanigans, see EVERYONE wins with this plan. Am I genius or what?