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Now geeks can be wife-beaters too!

Linus Dunce

11:26 / 25.10.02

Old news I'm sure, but can anyone think of a legitimate use for these products?

And, at the foot of the page, the icing on the cake:

We respect your privacy - Feel free to view our Privacy Policy

Trijhaos

11:31 / 25.10.02

Where's the wife-beating come in exactly?

I can see where this software could cause problems, but I'm sure there are perfectly legitimate uses for it.

Linus Dunce

11:39 / 25.10.02

They mention spying on your spouse ... doesn't sound like a recipe for love and mutual understanding to me.

So, what would be a legitimate use? I mean ethically, not legally, despite the root of the word.

w1rebaby

12:01 / 25.10.02

This isn't abuse, it's about suspicion. It's got about the same ethical status as taping phone calls and reading diaries. If that's ever acceptable, so is this.

In general, it's going to be used by insecure partners and those seeking evidence for divorce cases. Anyone going to those lengths from suspicion should just give up and split up, like people who get their partners to take lie detector tests to prove they're not cheating.

It's not as bad as the fucking X10 "see women in their pants" webcam.

doglikesparky

12:09 / 25.10.02

I think this kind of sotware is originally intended for bosses to see what their staff get up to but as was inevitable, it's now being used for all sorts of nefarious means.

The one saving grace is that it has to manually installed onto the machine you might want to spy on so at least it's not something that is likely to come from an internet source...

Bear

12:09 / 25.10.02

Those X10 adds are terrible aren't they! Protect your home it tells you as it scrolls across picture of a young woman.

I've just downloaded the trial of the web e-mail spy but its doesn't seem to work? Possibly due to the firewall at work.

Linus Dunce

12:26 / 25.10.02

OK, maybe I am being a bit precious. I think there are occasions when it's OK to tape phone calls without the subject knowing, so there may be situations when this software is OK.

Suspicion/jealousy isn't a good reason on its own though, because it isn't always justified in itself. And children/employees deserve some privacy too. If you don't want them using your computer to e.g. hang out in chatrooms, don't let them use it at all. Spying on them is cowardly at best, and at worst a form of bullying.

Tezcatlipoca

14:01 / 25.10.02

As far as legitimate uses go, I can see this software being sold to businesses who want to monitor their employee computer use.
As far as private customers go, it does seem to represent a certain lack of trust...

Linus Dunce

14:50 / 25.10.02

Employees -- sure, if you think they're ripping you off. But you should have a damn good reason to think so. And shouldn't this be a bit like the spousal thing -- if things are going that badly, shouldn't you confront each other and arrange a settlement? And it's one thing to use software to find out if someone is sending twenty personal e-mails a day. It's another to read those e-mails.

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