Harlan Coben The Undercover Parent Summary

According to guardchild.com, 17% of teens surveyed stated that they received an email or an online message with photos or words that made them feel uncomfortable, and only 7% of parents were aware of this. In an article titled “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben, it explains about the idea about parents using spyware on their children. Everything a child types can already be seen by the world, even pedophiles or online bullies. Coben supports the idea; however, he feels that showing the article to a child is better because it can lead to a to a conversation about concerns the parents may have. Parents should monitor their children’s online behavior because they want to keep their children safe from cyber bullies and pedophiles.

In Harlan Cobens article “The Undercover Parent” (2008), he states that spyware is a good thing to have on your childs computer, and at first I disagreed. But, after a lot of thought, I now agree with Cobens point of view.

In this Coben tries to get the reader to think the idea of spyware is a good thing and not so bad as it sounds. It sometimes helps reduce negative feelings by explaining what spyware is and how easy it is to get. When Coben says, "you have the ability to log every keystroke your child makes and thus a good portion of his or her private world" it does kinda scare the reader a little because of how he phrases some words but then he adds, "that’s what spyware is—at least the parental monitoring kind" this reassure the reader. "Am I suggesting eavesdropping on every conversation? No. With new technology comes new responsibility" this statement shows us that he feels that we shouldn't eavesdrop on every conversation Which makes the reader think that now it won't be such a time

As the Internet developed, it brings a lot of benefits, such as getting information much quicker; however, it also brings problem. One problem that Internet brings to today’s society is children’s safety on virtual world; there are a lot of temptations attract kids on the Internet. This issue Coben discusses is a particularly controversial one because it’s hard for parents ignore the dangerous on the Internet; on the other hand, if parents surveillance kids’ privacy world, it’s really embarrassed for children. How could we solve this problem? What is a compromise way for both parents and children? Coben thinks parents should use spyware on the computer, but not surreptitious doing this; parents should tell

The title of the essay is The Undercover Parents, which was written by Harlan Coben. The essay was published on the 16th of March, 2008. In the essay, Coben presents his main ideas and thoughts regarding the use of spyware by parents to monitor children. He says that installing a spyware on the computer used by children, especially those in the teenage years, can help parents track what actually their children view on computers. In the essay, the author says that while it is quite hard to follow up on children while they are away from home and this causes parents to be so worried, installing spyware on the computers in the house really helps. Coben says that the program allows parents to keep track of the children

Every day teenagers use the internet, whether it’s on their phones or on the computers at school or at home. Their lives are practically centered around it. They’re connecting with each other on social media such as: Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and even online video games, and this has is benefits, but it can also have some negative and possibly dangerous situations. The internet is not a safe haven for anyone or anything. In the article “The Undercover Parent” the author, Harlan Coben, makes the argument that spyware is alright to be used by parents on their kids computers as long as the parents are using the software responsibly. I agree with Coben’s statements because of his solid arguments of dangerous conversations, privacy, and bullying.

The reason I really agree is because Coben is showing how good spyware could be because it could tell you what your kids are doing and see if it’s bad and even see who they’re even talking because they could be talking to some crazy and weird people. Another good thing about spyware is that you could put a tracking device in their cell phones to see if they’re going in a bad neighborhood. If I was a parent I would consider using spyware just to make sure that my children are ok and not in danger. Coben is trying to get parents to agree but some parents might think it’s invading their children's space but Coben is just trying to show that without protection it could lead into

In his article, “The Undercover Parent”, Harlan Coben states that spyware is a good way to keep children safe. He supports his claim by using anecdotes and examples of how parents can use spyware effectively to keep their children safe yet also avoid taking away too much of their privacy. He also establishes a strong argument through addressing all of the problems that stand against his claim and how they can be solved. For example, he explains that parents will not be invading their child’s privacy (one of the main arguments against spyware), if they simply look for conversations that put the child in potential harm. Coben seeks to inform his audience, specifically parents, that spyware is effective in providing the safety of children by monitoring

In his article "Undercover Parent," Harlan Coben encourages and supports the concept of spyware being placed on teenagers' computers by their parents. With these programs parents can view every keystroke their child makes and examine what websites their children visit. While Coben’s viewpoints are bold, his argument still stands weakly with several invalid and questionable viewpoints.

In Harlan Coben’s article “The Undercover Parent,”(2008) he claims that parents should result to putting spyware on you tennager’s devices. Coben supports his claim by first stating “At first I was repelled at this invasion of privacy. Now, after doing an fair amount of research, I get it”, after a dinner he just had with friends who told Coben that they have put spyware on their teenager’s device, and how it kept him out of trouble. Coben’s purpose of this article is try to persuade parents that you should download spyware on your children’s devices yet, in order for Coben to get his purpose, he had to do some research and ask around for incidents that had occurred to his friends.. The audience is intended for parents of those who concern

Coben states that parents should put spyware on their kids computers, but shouldn’t be nosey and be completely responsible look for anything hazardous. However I disagree and believe teenagers should be trusted with online responsibilities. One reason for this is a third party (the vendor) makes a record of what you do ,but the author did not make note this or did not even know which in my opinion is worst than a faceless bureaucrat because that third is likely to release it to other parties such as google or other big corporations.

Ever since day one, people have been developing and creating all sorts of new methods and machines to help better everyday life in one way or another. Who can forget the invention of the ever-wondrous telephone? And we can’t forget how innovative and life-changing computers have been. However, while all machines have their positive uses, there can also be many negatives depending on how one uses said machines, wiretapping in on phone conversations, using spyware to quietly survey every keystroke and click one makes, and many other methods of unwanted snooping have arisen. As a result, laws have been made to make sure these negative uses are not taken advantage of by anyone. But because of how often technology changes, how can it be

To begin with, parents spy on their kids so they could know what they bring doing during their days.In the article the author states that “61 percent of parents checked the websites that their teenagers visited, 60 percent visited their social media accounts and 48 percent looked through their phone calls and messages. Basically, what is this quote is saying is that parents are tracking their kids due to their websites that they go thru their cell phones who they being texting or calling and they social media such as facebook instagram. This is important because, it shows that parents are very careless for their child. So, if

“This legislation grew out of the fact that by 1998 roughly ten million American children had access to the Internet, and at the same time, studies indicated that children were unable to understand the potential effect of revealing their personal information online and parent failed to monitor their children’s use of the Internet.” (Koby)

Is your privacy getting invaded by your parent? Technology gets better each and everyday, but how will it affect you? It has put a big effect on teens so their parents can know what is going on while their teens aren’t home. Parents have worked around problems to figure out many things such as where they are, who they called, and how fast they are driving. Depending if a teen is responsible or not tells how much freedom the teen can have. Privacy is important but parents also need to consider the teens perspective. In the article “Parental Monitoring Or An Invasion of Privacy”Robert Foltz discusses how parents are worried about everything their children are doing at all times. In the article “How Private Is Your Private Life?” the author Andrea Rock talks about her privacy is always close to being invaded. Privacy is not always taken the right way, teens can be tracked, what the teens think about their privacy may cause problems, and the actions they make results in what they are able to do.