Preview

Why Spyware Is Wrong

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1281 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Spyware Is Wrong
Spyware Is Wrong When is it ever acceptable to get involved in another’s personal business? The answer is never. These days, it is common for parents to get caught up in their child's life, especially of that on the Internet. Kids are slowly being stripped of their basic freedoms and having their privacy violated with the assistance of surveillance equipments that allow parents to monitor what they see, post, and say. This may seem as a good thing, as most people believe that parents should snoop on their kids to make sure they do not get themselves into trouble, but it comes with a great cost that may not be seen now. Spying is actually unethical and should not be implanted. Parental spyware should not be tolerated for the mistrust it brings …show more content…
However, this attitude gets the child thinking that making mistakes is unacceptable, which is wrong. Coben relates that “Today’s overprotective parents fight their kid’s battles on the playground, berate coaches about playing time and fill out college applications…” (Coben 1). This displays that parents are taking over the duties that a child must complete on their own to grow and mature, that they believe kids do not have the brains to make right judgements. They are taking away the opportunities for a kid to explore what his or her capabilities, which are endless. Goodman backs up this idea by explaining, “We may be protecting them [children] right out of the ability to make their own decisions. Including their own mistakes” (Goodman 1). Everyone learns from mistakes; this is how one grows. To not allow that prevents maturing and becoming independent, which is vital to becoming a strong …show more content…
Everyone can agree upon this - it appears to be the noble thing to do as a parent. However, others say to not do this is negligence. Coben, for instance, states that “Surrendering parental responsibility to a machine that allows the entire world access to your home borders on negligence” (Coben 69). To begin with, negligence is a strong word that does not fit this situation. Letting one’s child explore the Internet gives them insight on what reality is like. Some day, kids will grow up; they cannot believe that the world is the nonchalant place they think it is as adults, and should learn how to persevere. Better yet, they may become inspired to improve this planet by being exposed to its flaws, and the future may be a brighter place for everyone. If anything, simply blocking a few websites from one’s child and being ignorant about current events is negligence. The best thing to do would be to have a talk and warn kids of the dangers that can be found online. This is more effective, and cunning spyware is not needed. To wrap up, parental spyware is not a great option and should be avoided. It leads to parents being extremely suspicious of their children, and their children being hurt emotionally from their mistrust, which ruins their relationship. It is important for kids to make mistakes and learn from them, as it is part of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Throughout the article there were many valid points as why using spyware is good to use to monitor your kids internet usage. Harlan Coben states that spyware is not used to to spy on your kids it used to monitor and look out for your child. Some things that you would want to look out for could possibly be cyber bullying inappropriate postings, or…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, “Undercover Parents,” the author, Harlan Coben claims that parents should spy on their kids to monitor their internet use. He states that anything less than spying “borders on negligence.” Coben uses anecdotes to support his claims. His evidence is weak and his anecdotes are unbelievable at best. He poses several arguments and proceeds to refute them in his same idealistic manner. Coben’s idea of parenting and his claim are both idealistic and paranoid.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Harlan Coben’s article, “The Undercover Parent”(March 6,2008) he talks about the dangers on the internet and how we can prevent our children from the dangers by using spyware. I agree him about spyware. I think it can stop many things from happening.…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “The Undercover Parent,” (2008) written by Harlan Coben, he is in support of parents using spyware on their children. Personally, I have to agree with the author because parents could keep their children a lot safer from the dangers of the internet by using spyware. I believe parents should use spyware, but only for safety reasons and not just for the sake of spying. The author gives an example of the dangers of being on the internet like the young boy that didn’t know he was talking to a pedophile or the girl committing suicide because of being cyberbullied. The author also states that parents shouldn’t overuse the spyware to the point where they read every word they tell their friends and know everything about what their friends…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harlen Coben, the author of the article “Undercover parent”, makes a great point about using spyware on your childrens electronic devices, but, not great enough.…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    If I put spyware on my teens electronics, I would tell them. Coben says… “Do you tell your children that the spyware is on the computer? I side with yes,” (Paragraph 15) One thing would be good about this is your being truthful to your teens and if they’d know, they would be more aware of how easily your parents could monitor you, but predators as well.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harlen Coben, in an essay in The New York Times, “The Undercover Parent” (March 16, 2008) asserts that parents should install spyware on their children’s computers in order to protect children from the dangers of the internet. Coben claims that because what a child does on the internet is public, as a parent you have the right to view it as well, so we should be monitoring them in this area as well. However, Coben does admit that this is indeed an invasion of privacy, but that in order to be a good parent we must do so to protect our children from pedophiles and bullies that lure on the internet. Coben attempts to educate parents about the dangers the internet poses to children, and how spyware can be an effective solution to our need to protect our kids.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his article “The Undercover Parent,” Harlan Coben discusses this topic on The New York Times magazine. At first, Harlan couldn’t accept it either; he thinks parents are wrong to pry into children’s privacy world. However, he found out that there is no mistake for parents to download any software in their own computers, and there is nothing wrong for parents to protect their kids. Harlan Coben said use spyware to surveillance kids’ private world is “Scary. But a good idea. Most parents won’t even consider it.” Because they think if children are old enough to go on the Internet, they will old enough to know the dangers; they think using parental blocks is enough; however, parental blocks didn’t work sometimes. So it is hard for parents to just simply trust…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his essay from the New York Times, “The Undercover Parent,” Harlan Coben argues that parental use of spyware to monitor a child’s activities on the computer. The essay begins with Coben showing his initial apprehension towards the use of spyware stating, it’s an “invasion of privacy.” Coben mentions that his, as well as many other parents, hesitation may have started from the word: spyware. Nevertheless, as the essay continues on Coben’s views, on the subject, change. He says that some parents overprotect their children and might abuse the spyware programs, but most parents just want to use them to oversee their child’s activities and make sure they are doing the right thing and not getting themselves into trouble. Coben points out that it will be a hard choice to make and your child might be mad at you for “spying” on them, but in the end you’re just trying to do the best thing and you just want to protect them.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harlen Coben, editorial,¨Undercover Parent ¨( March 16,2008 ), claims that parents should monitor their teens and what they do on the internet. The author started off being against this idea, but then he sat down at a dinner with his friends whom convinced him otherwise. The author backs up his reasons after his anecdote. The authors purpose of this article is to make sure that parents are doing their best to protect their teens from the dangers of being online, in order to establish total and complete safety with his or her teen/teens. The intended audience for this article is parents with teenagers or kids who have access to the internet, now assuming the author has teens of his their would be some connection made with the audience their.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The parent and child relationship on this matter should just include trust. Using spyware on children’s devices without consent breaks the bond of trust between the parent and the child. If a child and the parent have trust in each other and don’t lie to one another, spyware is not needed. However, if the child constantly lies and breaks trust it can be seen why some parents see monitoring as an option for watching their kid online. “The ability to experience privacy is probably a basic human need that transcends culture,” says Skyler Hawk, a social psychologist who studies adolescent development at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outside of school it is more difficult to monitor what children have access to as they have a greater degree of freedom and not all parents have a high enough grasp of internet safety. There are numerous devices that are available offering internet access and you can’t monitor what their friends parental control settings are.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Undercover Parent

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The argument Harlan Coben has presented in his article, “The Undercover Parent”, is that it is acceptable to equip your child’s computer with spyware. Coben gives several reasons as to why parents should install spyware on their child’s computer. One reason, that a child could “unknowingly be conversing with a pedophile.” However, I disagree with the writer's argument due to it being inconsistent and inaccurate. Parents should not install spyware on their child's computer because it will put a damper on communication within the household and challenge the trust between parents and child.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Children are our society’s most valuable and fragile resources. It is our responsibility as parents, adults, and caregivers to provide our children with as many safeguards to protect them from physical and virtual dangers. Children are spending more and more time on the internet and without the proper protection and supervision they can be exposed to indecent or harmful material or predators that seek to harm them. “What children are encountering on the Internet, particularly in terms of indecent or otherwise unsuitable material or contacts with strangers who intend to do them harm, is an issue of major concern.” (Smith, 2001). The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000 and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 were put in place as an attempt to protect our children from the harm that could befall them on the internet from harmful materials and predators that target children.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Spying on Children

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Having parents snooping through children’s social media can be annoying and can make kids feel like they are not trusted or have bad judgment. As a teen, parents spying can be one of the worst nightmares. What if they find something? What’s going to happen after they do? It is very common for teens to hide things from their parents such as where they are, who they are…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics